‘Ellen Gift’ Facebook scam claims to be giving away big prizes
A Facebook scam claims that ‘Ellen Gift’ is giving away gift cards, cash, cars, and homes to users who follow instructions in a post.
One of the latest Ellen DeGeneres Facebook scams claims that a Facebook account renamed to “Ellen Gift” 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:
ATTENTIONS…
I Will Choose People Randomly on Facebook Everyone Who * SHARES * Will Receive Gift Cards, Cash, and Big Winners Can Win a Car & House “SHARE NOW” Don’t Miss !!! We are watching
Until Weekend !!! I will choose 100 lucky people. $ 30,000,000 each only follows instructions. …
Step 1 – like
Step 2 – share
Step 3 – comment “I WIN ELLEN”
Please be advised that you will not win anything if you follow instructions in the post. Ellen Gift is not affiliated with Ellen DeGeneres and you will not win prizes for participating. It is a scam. You can find the real and verified Ellen Facebook page here.
Like-farming scams and advance fee fraud are common problems on Facebook these days and Facebook doesn’t do much to stop them. 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.
Transcript of comments:
NOTE ??To be a Winner, you must Register ??your name and download my Movie?
“FINDING DORI or FINDING NEMO” LOOK ON MY PROFILE for my WEBSITE or LINK ( OR SEE WHAT IS IN THE COMMENT) reply to this message and say “DONE” ifATTENTION ?? If you still don’t understand how to win, please see the steps to win on my profile, or you immediately download my “FINDING NEMO or FINDING DORI” on my website click here ?[[ https://downloadmoviefreemoney.blogspot.com/ ]]
and our official team will record yourself after you register yourself
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.
