It’s a scam! You won’t win a surprise envelope from P & O Cruises
Like-framing scams and advance fee fraud are common on Facebook these days. Every day new scams and fake Facebook pages are created in hopes to gather likes and potentially trick Facebook users into believing they won something they really didn’t. Scammers often persuade Facebook users to believe they won something such as cash, cars, electronics, tickets to theme parks, and cars in order to then message them and ask for an advanced payment to receive the reward. This is called advanced fee fraud and it happens on Facebook all the time.
One of the latest scams on Facebook claims that Mark Freeman, General Manager of P & O Cruises is giving away a mystery envelope to Facebook users who share and comment on a Facebook post. A fake P & O Cruises Facebook page was created and it published several posts and images over the past few days. The most recent one claims that they are giving away an envelope and it shows a picture of a ma surrounded by luxury envelopes. In reality, you won’t win anything.
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Here’s an example of what a post might look like:
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
Hey everyone, my name is Mark Freeman. I’m a General Manager at P&O Cruise. We are offering twenty people who has shared and commented on this post by August 29th to win one of these envelopes. What does it contain? A P&O Cruise for 4 people. Like our Page for Winner Updates.
This is an obvious scam that was posted by a fake P & O Cruises Facebook page. You can find the real and verified P & O Cruises Facebook page here.
Once a Facebook user shares the 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.
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.