Smyths Toys Facebook scam: how to stay safe
Watch out for a fake Facebook page pretending to be Smyths Toys Superstores. So far 25,000 people have ‘liked’ the scam.
Facebook users are being warned to watch out for a fake page that is luring 10s of thousands of people into a scam.
Scammers have created a fake Facebook page pretending to be Smyths Toys and are encouraging people to like and share a competition post to win a €300 voucher for the store.
Don't fall for this supermarket voucher scam
What to watch out for
The fake Facebook page is hard to distinguish from the real thing as you can see below.
As a result, over 25,000 people have liked the page and over 11,000 have shared a fake competition to win a €300 Smyths voucher.
How the con works
Once you have liked the fake page the con artists can then harangue you with other scam website posts as well as gain access to your Facebook profile, which could include personal information such as your phone number and date of birth.
Similar scams in the past have resulted in victims having their phone numbers signed up to premium rate services meaning they have been charged hundreds of pounds.
Smyths Toy Superstore are aware of the fake page and are trying to get it removed.
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Christmas scams
The run up to Christmas is a popular time for criminals to target people on Facebook by setting up fake brand pages.
There are several tell-tale signs a Facebook page is dodgy:
- How many pictures are there? Criminals will only add a couple of pictures so at first glance the page seems real.
- How old is the page? If it has only been set up in the past few days, it is probably dodgy.
- Is it verified? Most big brands will have their Facebook pages verified to prove they are genuine. This will mean they have a blue or grey tick on the page.
What to do
If you have liked a page that you think might be fake report it to Facebook and unlike the page, making sure the page no longer has access to your profile information.
If you have also shared a competition, delete the share so more people aren’t caught up in the scam.
For more read: Facebook scams: how to stay safe.
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