The ‘Giveaway Piggy Back Scam’ In Full Swing [2022]

The ‘Giveaway Piggy Back Scam’ In Full Swing [2022]

The ‘Giveaway Piggy Back Scam’ In Full Swing [2022]

As Seen On

Another blow to Australian Businesses.

Scammers are piggybacking on the shoulders of Aussie businesses and their customers through this simple yet effective online scam.

[Update] “We reported the scam page to Facebook through their reporting system, but despite submitting multiple reports, Facebook repeatedly denied the request to remove the page and associated posts. Facebook said that they reviewed the profile, but decided not to take the profile down…”

Casey Jones, Director & Head of Marketing at CJ&CO

The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam
The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam

The humble giveaway is at risk. 

We’re fast approaching the festive season and Aussie businesses are looking for a way to capture a larger audience and beat rising advertising costs. The biggest sales periods are right around the corner with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years’ sales coming up.

Businesses love to give back to the community with the humble giveaway… Their customers love it too – who wouldn’t love free stuff!?

We recently ran a giveaway competition for one of our clients on Facebook and Instagram. It’s a simple, yet effective marketing strategy that digital marketing agencies use to boost brand awareness, social followers, social signals and email subscribers and reduce advertising costs.

We were a few days in, and our client was showered with love from their customers and fans.  

But that quickly changed with an overseas scam syndicate targeting this business. Not only attempting to ruin this festive giveaway and scam their customers for their private information but possibly gaining enough information to gain access to credit cards, passwords and more.

And it was surprising to see how quickly they initiated the whole scam. From Facebook to landing pages, they had created a copy of our client’s pages to lure in customers. 

Scam
Their fake Facebook account

This is how they did it

They started this entire scam from a fake Facebook page.

The fake profile then privately messaged people on Facebook, targeting people who had commented on the giveaway post. The fake profile would inform the Facebook user they had won the giveaway.

The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam
The conversation they had with one Facebook user.

Users were then directed to this page.

The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam
Their landing page
The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam
Their landing page

Once the user clicked on the “Register” button, they were taken to the signup page, where the fake site requested their email addresses and password.

Most people still use the same password for everything. So it doesn’t take long for these people to gain access to your other accounts. (Pro tip: have a different password for everything)

In this scenario, the scammers could get access to email accounts that are often linked with bank accounts, credit cards etc.

The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam
Their Sign-up Page

If Facebook users provided scammers with their emails and passwords, they were then taken to a payment form. Our guess is, they weren’t encrypting these cards or keeping peoples’ private details safe.

The 'Giveaway Piggy Back Scam' In Full Swing [2022] Scam
The payment gateway page

This action may have given away the customers’ credit card details, making them vulnerable to credit card fraud.

Facebook users simply wanted to win prizes in the lead-up to the festive season and support a local business.

Luckily, we managed to end the scam before they could damage our client’s reputation though Facebook didn’t make it easy.

This incident has yet again highlighted the pitiful condition of scamming throughout Australia. Within a few days of CJ&CO launching the giveaway, scammers had built a landing page and were targeting vulnerable Facebook users.

A Warning to Aussie Consumers

Educate yourselves and be careful out there. Small and large businesses and Aussie consumers are being targeted. These overseas scam syndicates are getting increasingly better at faking websites, social pages and more. If you’re ever unsure, go to a reputable source, like the company website, give them a call, talk to someone and verify it.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Casey Jones Avatar
Casey Jones
1 year ago

Why Us?

  • Award-Winning Results

  • Team of 11+ Experts

  • 10,000+ Page #1 Rankings on Google

  • Dedicated to SMBs

  • $175,000,000 in Reported Client
    Revenue

Contact Us

Up until working with Casey, we had only had poor to mediocre experiences outsourcing work to agencies. Casey & the team at CJ&CO are the exception to the rule.

Communication was beyond great, his understanding of our vision was phenomenal, and instead of needing babysitting like the other agencies we worked with, he was not only completely dependable but also gave us sound suggestions on how to get better results, at the risk of us not needing him for the initial job we requested (absolute gem).

This has truly been the first time we worked with someone outside of our business that quickly grasped our vision, and that I could completely forget about and would still deliver above expectations.

I honestly can't wait to work in many more projects together!

Contact Us

Disclaimer

*The information this blog provides is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as financial or professional advice. The information may not reflect current developments and may be changed or updated without notice. Any opinions expressed on this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s employer or any other organization. You should not act or rely on any information contained in this blog without first seeking the advice of a professional. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this blog. The author and affiliated parties assume no liability for any errors or omissions.