A new Facebook scam is doing the rounds promising users of the social network the chance to win a brand new car, if they only like and share a photo of the car tied up with a stylish gift ribbon.
Of course, there is no prize, really. These pages, which have appeared over the last couple of days, have variously offered to give away a Audi R8, a Range Rover 4WD and a Mercedes Benz E63 AMG - always "for the first time in Facebook history".
Many of them have been taken down from Facebook already, but the image above, captured through Google's search cache, shows you the kind of thing potential victims are likely to come across.
"The first clue that giveaways following this format are not on the up-and-up is the pages to which Facebook users are directed, pages created just days before the giveaway posts begin to appear," points out Snopes.com's article on the Facebook scam. "Were a legitimate company to engage in such a high-ticket contest giveaway, the incentive would be exposure; however, no corresponding promotional return on advertising investment was discernible in these Facebook giveaway claims."
As That's Nonsense explains, "these scams exist to accumulate fans for a Facebook page which can then be used to kick-start further nefarious scams." That, however, is a best case scenario, as Snopes adds: "Under less favorable circumstances they may risk being exposed to malware, clickjacking, or other unpleasantries when the ploy is complete."
Ironically, even the claim in the post that this is the 'first time in history' is bogus. Hoax Slayer reported an almost identical scam offering a Mercedes Benz CLA 45 back in July this year.
For more information on avoiding Facebook scams, be sure to read our useful guide. Here's five classic Facebook scams to look out for:
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