You guys. Us adults warn kids to be careful on the internet, but sometimes us adults need reminded as well.
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By day, I work in the social media field. Unfortunately that means I’m on Facebook a lot for client work during the day. And sometimes I see adults being unknowingly gullible, so I wanted to share two cases of that this week.
I saw a number of PA and New Jersey friends think they were entering to win a Disney vacation because they shared a post from a “Walt Disney World” account. Because of my job I know that it’s Facebook illegal to ask consumers to share a post to win something. Sometimes some small companies dodge the rule and get away with it. However, if you are “Walt Disney World,” you know the rules. Here are said rules.
If that wasn’t a red flag that this promotion was fake, I clicked on the “Walt Disney World” page. The page had 2,000 likes and was created five days prior. Second red flag. If this was a Disney official page, it would have been created well in advance and had A LOT more likes. To put things into perspective, the real Walt Disney World page has almost 15 MILLION likes.
So next time you see a contest on Facebook, remember - a brand can’t ask you to share something to win. Also, before entering anything, check the page to make sure it’s legit.
I know what you are going to ask - why would someone create this page? Well working in social media for several years now let me just tell you...PEOPLE ARE WEIRD.
The second scam is a pyramid scheme (and I’m not even going to talk about the Nerium or BeachBody people). I saw one person post about receiving children’s books while the other was about buying one $10 gift and I didn’t even finish the reading rest (apparently it’s some “Secret Sister” game).
This is another example of something that isn’t allowed on Facebook. Like this blog says, both the book exchange and Secret Sister game can mean someone is collecting your address and that addresses of other women which could put you all at risk for identity theft. Read more here.
I’ll be sure to share more things that I spot, but in the meantime BE CAREFUL! Always check things out before hitting share or participating. And DO NOT share your personal information with strangers (or even those people you knew from high school)!
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