This is a scam, right?

[Krokodil]

There's very little social media firms can do about repeated spam/scam posts like this

They could, if they really wanted to, at the very least for paid advertisements (could they be legally liable for those?). Would impact their margins of course.

except remove them when they're reported.

They don't even do this. Every time you report a scam they come back with "doesn't break our rules".

 

[Bantamzen]

They don't even do this. Every time you report a scam they come back with "doesn't break our rules".

I've definitely seen some removed after I've reported them, but it can take weeks or even months. I imagine they don't always just take the word of a few users an insta-ban accounts, but will investigate when & where they feel appropriate and have the resources. With 3.5 billion accounts and counting I imagine there are a lot of reporting including false flagging.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

They don't even do this. Every time you report a scam they come back with "doesn't break our rules".

The BBC might be better served reporting on this and calling the likes of Facebook out, rather than running their recent non-story about travel options between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth.

 

[Gloster]

The BBC might be better served reporting on this and calling the likes of Facebook out, rather than running their recent non-story about travel options between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth.

The BBC do quite frequently have articles on their website: there is one (well, a link to one of their podcasts or the like) as I write. I have probably learnt more from Auntie than all the other sites put together, because often you can not be certain that they are not either a commercial money generator or a scam…

 

[Krokodil]

I've definitely seen some removed after I've reported them, but it can take weeks or even months. I imagine they don't always just take the word of a few users an insta-ban accounts, but will investigate when & where they feel appropriate and have the resources. With 3.5 billion accounts and counting I imagine there are a lot of reporting including false flagging.

If the response was "we are investigating/considering the matter" then that might be true, but "this does not go against our community standards" (not sure on the wording, can't find old reports to check, the function seems to have been hidden) then a layman might conclude that Meta are absolutely happy for scammers to operate on the site, provided of course that they've paid for advertising their scams.

 

[dk1]

take it you saw it on FB? pops up every so often, along with the £200 supermarket vouchers, of scams all of them

Don’t forget the Spoons free meal that thousands gullibly fell for as we came out of the pandemic. Made even more unbelievable as Wetherspoon do not do social media and haven’t done for donkeys years.

 

[londonbridge]

Here’s the London Underground one I’ve seen on Facebook today:

London Underground and Oyster are offering a 12-month free travelcard for only £1.78-don’t miss out on this incredible deal

The first image is of a Facebook post offering a twelve month travelcard for £1.78, as quoted above. The post includes a photo of an LU train at a station platform, below which it says: “1 YEAR FREE LONDON UNDERGROUND PASS FOR £1.78”

The post was made by “London Tube Lines - London” and includes fake comments such as “ We called London Underground and Oyster today. They confirmed that this promotion is indeed launched online with the support of the government. So, don't hesitate”.

The second image is included in the “comments” and shows a mock-up of an Oyster Card. The wording on the card is: “OYSTER limited edition 12 MONTH FREE SUBWAY RIDES CARD”. At the bottom is the standard “Transport for London Issued subject to conditions - see over” wording.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

The wording on the card is: “OYSTER limited edition 12 MONTH FREE SUBWAY RIDES CARD”. At the bottom is the standard “Transport for London Issued subject to conditions - see over” wording.

Says it all really.

 

[John-H]

I'm in Canada. We have the same ad but with a pass for Via Rail Canada.

John

 

[David57]

I report these scams to Facebook every time, just got a message from them this morning that (the GWR one) 'doesn't go against their advertising standards'...

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I report these scams to Facebook every time, just got a message from them this morning that (the GWR one) 'doesn't go against their advertising standards'...

Doesn't say much about their advertising standards! (Are these standards published anywhere, BTW?)

 

[ScouserGirl]

Variations on this seem to keep popping up in my social media feeds:

View attachment 145288

Image description: a facebook ad from "Discount for railway transport" promising an e gift card for UK residents for a year's free travel with GWR for only £1.69. The picture itself is of a GWR train at a station and someone's hand holding a red credit-card sized card looking like a mix of a GWR smartcard and a traditional ticket (orange stripes at top and bottom).

It sounds way too good to be true, and there's no mention of it on the GWR website that I can find. Is this the latest way to gather our details for propaganda ahead of the next election or something?

Yes definitely a scam GWR did a post about this a few weeks ago as people have fallen for it.

 

[jon81uk]

Generally I think you are more likely to see them if you have friends who fall for the scams and follow the pages that post them. I very rarely see them myself, almost all the adverts on Facebook are genuine businesses.

 

[Master29]

Reported it to FB and told them GWR has put out that it's a scam however they (FB) have replied stating it doesn't breach their advertising standards. Tells you all you need to know about Facebook really. I'm waiting for brinks matt gold to be advertised under the one little old lady owner story.

 

[Kite159]

Facebook care more about the money they generate from the scam advertiers than they do about their user base.

No surprise there, just look at how many "famous person recommends investing in Xcoin as he has made thousands" scams. Just needs another Martin Lewis to sue them again

 

[Master29]

Facebook care more about the money they generate from the scam advertiers than they do about their user base.

No surprise there, just look at how many "famous person recommends investing in Xcoin as he has made thousands" scams. Just needs another Martin Lewis to sue them again

Usually the famous person in question has nothing to do with the scams either. It's just a blanket rule to trust nothing that pops up on FB promising magic beans for me anyway.

 

[Krokodil]

Martin Lewis settles lawsuit as Facebook agrees to donate £3m to anti-scam charity and launch new scam ads reporting button

Social media giant Facebook will launch a dedicated new tool to report scam ads, donate £3m to a new Citizens Advice project to help tackle them and cover MSE founder Martin Lewis’ legal costs, after reaching a settlement with him over his campaigning defamation lawsuit

www.moneysavingexpert.com

I wonder what happened to the dedicated scam reporting tool.

 

[Kite159]

Usually the famous person in question has nothing to do with the scams either. It's just a blanket rule to trust nothing that pops up on FB promising magic beans for me anyway.

Indeed, the fake adverts saying "famous person says to invest in Y" when that person has nothing to do with it.

 

[Master29]

Martin Lewis settles lawsuit as Facebook agrees to donate £3m to anti-scam charity and launch new scam ads reporting button

Social media giant Facebook will launch a dedicated new tool to report scam ads, donate £3m to a new Citizens Advice project to help tackle them and cover MSE founder Martin Lewis’ legal costs, after reaching a settlement with him over his campaigning defamation lawsuit

www.moneysavingexpert.com

I wonder what happened to the dedicated scam reporting tool.

I think chocolate fireguard springs to mind here.

 

[Krokodil]

That's unfair on chocolate fireguards, at least they have the redeeming feature of tasting good.

 

[185]

It's a scam, I'm aware VY Norwegian Railways flagged it as a pan-European scam, that Facebook have failed to shut down.

Seem to recall a number of the fraudsters running it had French or Algerian names on their profiles.

 

[londonbridge]

Just seen a variation on the London Tube Lines post I mentioned earlier, this time it says that London Underground and Oyster have launched a promotion to support the public due to the price increase in Oyster travel cards. 12 month card still available for £1.78 but funny how the comments and replies are exactly the same as those on the earlier post.

 

[CastlebarKeith]

These things appear regularly, often things like fake TESCO coupons

They are DATA CAPTURE tricks. Data gets sold to even more malevolent people

Do not click them nor forward them. They are often keys for hackers to use in the future.

 

[miklcct]

Just seen a variation on the London Tube Lines post I mentioned earlier, this time it says that London Underground and Oyster have launched a promotion to support the public due to the price increase in Oyster travel cards. 12 month card still available for £1.78 but funny how the comments and replies are exactly the same as those on the earlier post.

Has anyone actually paid £1.78 and can show me what is received? I tried the purchase process but a certificate error appeared at the time I enter the payment page so I stopped.

 

[londonbridge]

I’ve now got a short code set up in text replacement on my phone, so anytime I see one of these or similar I just type the short code to leave a “THIS IS A SCAM” message in the comments.

 

[Gloster]

It is always useful (and, if you have my mindset, entertaining) to look at the Latest Fact Checks on the .fullfact.org website.

 

[Trackman]

They could at least make it realistic, like say £400 or something.
Anyway the ad now says 'False information. Checked by independent fact-checkers.'

 

[Lucan]

the GWR logo on the card is quite obviously wrong too. They do say that scammers deliberately include obvious mistakes to weed out those with a bit of savvy.

Looking at the OP's picture, what is wrong with the logo? I don't see it.

Anyway, they did not need an error in the logo to weed out the savvy. You would need to be extremely dumb to think that GWR would offer a year's travel for £1.69. £1000 might be borderline credible. Beside that, what is the real "payload" of this scam. For £1.69 it is hardly worth the scammer's effort surely? Maybe they simply take more once they have your credit card details.

 

[PaulHarding150]

For £1.69 it is hardly worth the scammer's effort surely? Maybe they simply take more once they have your credit card details.

That’s exactly what will happen. They won’t take £1.69 off you and them securely dispose of your card details!

 

[Julia]

That’s exactly what will happen. They won’t take £1.69 off you and them securely dispose of your card details!

Even if they take nothing, those personal details you provided can be sold on to even more shady characters for £100 or more - which gives you a guide to the average amount that gets stolen...