‘Elen Win’ Facebook scam claims you can win cash and cars
A Facebook scam claims that Elen Win is giving away gift cards, cash, cars, and homes to users who follow instructions in a post.
There are many fraudulent Ellen DeGeneres Facebook accounts and pages trying to con the vulnerable and gullible. Most of them are easy to spot because they misspell the name ‘Ellen DeGeneres.’ Why would Ellen DeGeneres misspell her name? It’s been her name her whole life. However, for some reason, people keep falling for fake Ellen DeGeneres Facebook page scams even when they’re obviously fake, and it’s not doing anyone any good.
One of the latest Ellen DeGeneres Facebook scams claims that a Facebook account renamed to “Elen Win” is giving away gift cards, cash, cars, and homes to Facebook users who like a post they published, share the post, and comment “I WIN ELLEN” on the post.
Transcript from post:
Surprise in the next 12 hours, I will randomly select people on Facebook everyone who * shares * will receive gift cards, cash, and big winners can win cars & homes “Share now” don’t miss! We are watching !!! I will choose 100 lucky people. $ 30,000,000 each only follows the instructions ….
Step 1 – Like it
Step 2 – Share
Step 3 – Commenting on “I WIN”
This is not true. The Elen Win page is not affiliated with Ellen DeGeneres in any way and you will not win prizes for participating. It is a scam.
The Elen Win account is obviously fake and has been concluded to be a scam. The name Ellen is spelled wrong, the permalink to the Facebook account has the actual person’s name in it (https://www.facebook.com/david.choky.90/), the actual person still has his images posted on the page (https://www.facebook.com/david.choky.90/photos), and the account has conducted other scams pretending to be someone else. There are also many fake Ellen DeGeneres Facebook accounts and pages such as Ellen L Deganders, Ellen’s Degerezz, Ellen DeGagares, Ellenn’s Dgenerse, and Ellen DeGgners Jr.. The fake accounts and pages are used to conduct similar scams. You can find the real and verified Ellen Facebook page here.
Like-farming scams and advance fee fraud are common issues on Facebook these days. Every day new scams are produced in order to obtain likes (or… human targets) and trick Facebook users into believing they can win something (or can obtain something) that they really can’t.
Scammers will generally attempt to deceive Facebook users into thinking they won something such as cash, cars, electronics, tickets to theme parks, coupons, and other stuff so that they can send the target a message and ask them for an advanced payment or direct them to a website to gather their personal information.
The scammer might claim the advanced payment is for shipping or another reason in order to coax the target to pay them without suspicion. Once the advanced payment is paid by the target the scammer simply moves on to the next target. This type of operation is called advanced fee fraud and it happens all the time on Facebook.
Once a Facebook user shares the fraudulent post, likes the post, and comments on the post they become a target. The scammers will then contact them and tell them that they won a prize and in order to receive the prize they must pay a fee (for shipping or other reason). Once the fee is paid the scammer will then avoid the target and the target will be left with a hole in their pocket. This is how advanced fee fraud is orchestrated on the social network every day.
The scammer has also shared links that direct targets to a website that insists you must watch or download a movie to register for the Ellen giveaway. It’s actually a trick to get you to visit a website they advertise so don’t get duped. These websites usually contain malicious advertisements and host malware.
What to do if you fell for a scam
Do not share or like the post. This only promotes it to more people which is how these scams are usually spread in the first place. If you did, visit your activity and unlike the post.
If you completed online surveys associated there is not much that you can do. However, if you supplied your personal banking or credit information to a survey it is strongly suggested to contact your bank or credit institution for assistance.
If you sent an advanced payment in order to receive a prize contact your bank or credit card and file a claim against the transaction. Explain to your bank or the credit card company what happened in order to receive assistance for the matter.
If you used an online payment service to make an advanced payment contact them and let them know what happened. It is possible that you will be able to receive your money back from them.
Furthermore, terminate all association with the Facebook page. Unlike the Facebook page, report the Facebook page, tell friends that you might have tagged about the scam, and even change your Facebook password for safe measure.
