Don’t fall for this FB scam

[ScAMMEDbyWaterstones]

I was scammed, unbelievably as I’m pretty savvy. Sadly I have a weakness for books and bargains which this crowd took advantage of me over.

Well are you going to tell us what happened @ScAMMEDbyWaterstones

Or are you a plopper? Starting a thread, putting one post on it then not returning? You are warning people about a scam on Facebook, but have given hardly any details about what happened. Also, you have NOT been scammed by Waterstones, as your usernames suggests.

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Also agree that this has absolutely nothing to do with Waterstones and your username is highly misleading.

I nearly got caught by this one. It said £3 and had a similar tempting blurb about 'not many people know this...' I filled in the form to pay the £3 but when I pressed pay, it took me to another page asking me to fill out my card details again. I quickly closed it all down and rang my bank fraud dept, who confirmed I'd closed down quickly enough, but they stopped my card immediately and arranged a new one. Thank goodness.

Of course you are being unreasonable. Total clickbait with no information. You're certainly not trying to help anyone.
Obviously I'm not troll hunting but where is the rest of the post OP?

@ScAMMEDbyWaterstones I'm sorry you fell for this ad. But take it as a warning that you should NEVER respond to any kind of Ad on FB. It's pretty well known by now that FB is a hot bed of false adverts and scams and if you are interested in something google it and look for the item on genuine sites or question if it is a scam on Google

Did you lose money?

Three ways around this is ; Too good to be true, probably is. Not to believe anything on fb, and or use social media sites.
Never had fb or any of the others so although I'm not bullet proof I'm less likely to get caught by a scam as a result. But the main reason is I don't trust anyone and am cynical about most things I read online. I'm law abidung but I check and recheck everything,use trusted phone numbers, I never give out my main email unless I know 100%, I use fake names and fake emails, burner phones and no, I'm not of the criminal fraternity. 😄
Just got badly burnt by an ex h. He was in security and a few dodgy things, had a good teacher as a result

🤦🏻‍♀️

Embarrassingly, I fell for the same scam yesterday.

Basically there's a FB post by someone saying they got a box of books from Waterstones after filling out a questionnaire.

Looking back I don't know why I believed it for more than 2 seconds, but it did look convincing - lots of comments on the post from other people saying they'd done it too, with pictures.

Anyway, I did the questionnaire and then went to a payment page where they wanted £4 for the box of books. I started putting my credit card details in, and, belatedly, my common sense started knocking at the door (that old saying "if it looks too good to be true ... "), and I cancelled out BEFORE authoring the transaction.

I then started to receive emails from someone called "underfolders" saying my account was set up, and thank you for my subscription (£51 every 14 days 😲) and got on to my credit card company straight away. They blocked the subscription and cancelled my card so no more payments can be taken. There's a pending payment of some £5 odd, but I should be able to get that cancelled later.

Yeah, I'm embarrassed. I thought I was pretty savvy about scams tbh. But I guess any of us can have a moment of weakness.

So they nicked your data? Surely you didn't give them any personal banking info enabling them to steal money?
What information did you give them?
Obviously you didn't get any books.

I have just found this on Facebook, and there are about a dozen people in the comments saying 'this is amazing, I am so happy with my huge box of books etc...' And every last one of them has very few or no 'friends' and very few or no photos. Clearly not real/genuine accounts. Absolute scam. Who wants 30-odd books shipping to them anyway, that they have never heard of and don't want? I like to choose my own books, not have someone else choose them for me!

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Don't believe any bargains you see on Facebook, is the answer. If you are tempted by a promotion or offer, find their genuine website (not through a Facebook link) and see if the offer is on there.

I've reported numerous scam ads to Facebook and they just don't care.

So what’s the scam? Did you give card details?

So I decided to look into this, and did the 'short survey' and when I had finished (it took me a minute to do,) I got forwarded to a page that was asking for a small payment. £3 is not a lot for most people, but the problem is that you will be entering your card details. DO NOT TAKE PART IN THIS SCAM! Or anything you see that seems too good to be true on Facebook - or anywhere actually! You will be giving your personal details, and bank details!

This is what comes up after you have done the survey.

I saw it and was tempted for about 10 seconds as I am an avid reader. I then thought it can't be genuine so ignored it

I’ve been seeing these about all different shops. Always be extra wary of anything that seems too good to be true!

@zov what's the actual URL of the site where you do it/check out? You can type a few spaces in it so MN doesn't create a link if you like

There's a very similar one for yarn from (I think) hobbycraft.

Exactly, if the OP is needing a name the Ifellforit would be more honest, whatever d/he lost in the 'scam'.

Your username is very unfair. You weren't scammed by Waterstones at all.

It sounds like if you declined the authorisation, that this scam originates from abroad. The authorisation notification for payment only works in the U.K. (possibly elsewhere but not sure). It definitely doesn’t work in the USA because I got scammed last year for a hotel booking for here, but turned out I was scammed by someone in the USA. I declined the authorisation and they took my money anyway.

I got my money back as I used a credit card.

ALWAYS use a credit card when buying online.

Even if you are not intending on attempting to make a purchase and entering card details, I definitely would not personally recommend clicking on suspicious links.

Doing so can cause malware infections, phishing or even identity theft.

Very true. I clicked on a facebook link, I forget what for, and somehow it hacked my account and someone started sending message to my friends.

There was a similar thing with Sol De Jeniro / Boots. You did a short quiz and got a load of SDJ stuff for £10.

I read all the comments and started to fill out the quiz when I came to my senses.

There is no wiser adage than "if it seems too good to be true"

I've seen these from various retailers but have always gone with the theory that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be true.

Your username is really unfair to Waterstones. You weren’t scammed by Waterstones, you were scammed by someone else. You need to change your name.