The 20 Golden P and O Tickets don’t exist- Travel Scam Alert

People are sharing a competition on Facebook which supposedly means you can win A CRUISE for THREE people. Who would not want that? This is what it looks like…

a man holding up yellow envelopes

The deal is of course fake.

The Golden envelopes are from the 2016 Oscars and contained the winner’s information for that year. The picture is a Los Angeles Times describing how the Oscars envelopes are made.

When you follow the link and you add your name etc, you are giving your name details to a scammer. If you or your friends have shared it then you have exposed many more people to be potential victims. The scam artists have gathered thousands of names. In some cases, people are tricked into giving their Facebook or Twitter log in details

Scams like these appear in Social Media quite often offering free trips, heavily discounted flights, upgrades and hotelsYou’ll often see your friends sharing them! You will also see the same friends often complaining (with shock and surprise) that their Facebook or Twitter has been hacked.

How to spot a fake competition/offers/deals:

  1. Is the company name correct? In this case, it is P & O cruise not the real name “P&O Cruises”. No company will run  a FB page or a competition and misspell their company name. I have seen Applle Iphones and Apple IIphones being given away. There are often deals for Qunatas airways (real Qantas has no “u”) appearing on my feed.
  2. Search the internet for the real company ‘s webpage. If there is nothing about the deal or giveaway there, then you can be sure its not real.
  3. Follow the link from the company to their Facebook page and compare it with the Facebook page that your friends have shared with you. Most real company FB pages have a Blue tick from Facebook next to their name showing that they are genuine:a screenshot of a phone

The fake one of course does not have a blue tick:

a large cruise ship in the water4. Have a look at the “ABOUT” section on the “fake” Facebook page. If there is sparse info and no website or phone number. Note in this case, the page actually tells you it is “For fans of P&O Cruises”. They are telling you it is not the real company! I have even seen listings that say “We are not affiliated with [genuine company].

a screenshot of a website

 

Compare this to the real P&0 Cruises page which clearly shows their webpage and phone numbers:

a screenshot of a facebook page

5. Look for “terms and conditions”. if the competition/deal/giveaway is real then there will be a list of rules as demanded by every legitimate jurisdiction in the world. If you cannot find and Ts and C’s, then it is probably a fake deal.

6. Look for an end date. Most scam pages do not have an end date, They usually run the project until they are booted off the platform by Facebook or Twitter.

7. Look for announcements about winners. If there are none, run away!

8. Check Snopes or Hoax slayer to see if they have warnings about this deal or competition

If you’re not sure a deal is genuine, DON’T enter! Do not give your name and details and never ever enter your password details. And please, please, please stop re tweeting and sharing the fake competitions.

 

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