Social media has always been a platform to perform cyber-attacks and spread scams. Social media is viable to circulate scams as they are viewed by millions of people around the world. We are living in a society where 85% of people own a social media account. So these scams gain a good reach. They can pose threat to your business and can cause financial breakdown.
Some of the predominant social media scams include:
- Gossip scams
- Free gift card scams
- Give away scams
- Catfishing
- Health care scams
- Romance scams
Recently, a scam has been launched by the cyber hackers to trick social media users about a giveaway by the Walmart groups as a token of gratitude during their anniversary.
As soon as Walmart came to know about the scams they warned their customers and advised them to stay alert.
The hackers imitated the Walmart group and posted a photo in social media that had around 5 people standing in front of a group of gift bags. The photo seemed to be genuine as they had the same background and uniform of the Walmart hyper market. The bags looked similar to the ones provided from the store.
Along with the photo, scammers posted a caption saying that Walmart has decided to stop the use of plastic bags by the end of 2021 and these plastic bags are given away to those people who has shared and commented to the post by 7pm on 24th March.
The post alleged that each of one who does this will be rewarded with gift bags full of useful products and an additional Walmart voucher worth 75 dollars.
Believing it to be legitimate, some people share and comment on this post expecting to receive the gift bag. While doing so they are prompted to click a link which takes them to an infected webpage in order to register their entry.
The Walmart officials commented on this issue that this page is not owned by Walmart and is a fake one. Customers are everything to us. Any exploitation against them will be taken into serious consideration and appropriate measures will be taken to mitigate customer scams.
Online scams have graphed to the top during the time of pandemic, says Dustin Johnson, the Vice President of Better Business Bureau (BBB). He added that even if today’s youngsters are well educated and are cautious against cyber-attacks, unlucky they also fall for these scams.
Whenever you come across social media posts, before opening or believing them, give it a second thought. Ask yourself, is that possible? Never blindfoldedly fall for any scams. Scammers will present the scam in a legally and genuine looking way. It is our responsibility to cross check the content and act accordingly.
In case of such scams, just take a closer look at the mail ID, coupons or the URL, you can find the difference.
Investigating officers says that the fake Walmart Facebook account was created on March 23 and the photo was posted on the following day. The official page was formed on October 2009 and has a verified profile blue tick in them. While taking a closer look, the fake account had low resolution pictures of the Walmart logo. Nowadays it is quite an easy task for the scammers to create a fake account and convert them to the required form so that they look genuine.
If you feel any doubt about any offers or pages, just Google it or contact the organization directly for clarification.
When scams come knocking your doors, compelling you to provide your personal information, filling the survey or to share it with friends, it probably might be a scam.
How to protect yourself from give away scams?
- Check whether the page is verified and has a blue tick mark.
- Analyse the account and check whether it was created recently.
- Check for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
- Never click on links, attachments or complete survey.
- Check for the terms and conditions. If they are missing, stay away from that account.
- Never like or comment on random posts.