Social media scams
Be careful, and if something sounds too good to be true - it probably is!
Social media scams try to fool you into sharing your personal information in all sorts of ways, and even target people on lots of different channels. You can find out more about some of these scams below.
Scroll down
Example: 1 of 7 Like! Like! Like!
Fake social media campaigns are used to ‘farm’ likes - the more likes a post gets, the higher up it will feature in people's newsfeeds. When the posts are highly ranked, fraudsters change the content of the posts to trick people into giving out personal information, or coerce them into downloading malicious software.
Example: 2 of 7 Win free things
Unfortunately, you won’t be given ipads, iphones, tickets, or vouchers for free in return for a click or a like - these are just scams used to collect your details when you enter the survey or competition.
Example: 3 of 7 Breaking or shocking news!
Anything about ‘exclusive coverage’, celebrity scandals, and other sensationalist headlines are used to entice users to click through and then submit their details - so avoid these on social media.
Example: 4 of 7 New or extra social media features
While there are legitimate browser extensions (a browser extension is a plug-in that can change or improve the way your browser works) that can offer features, scammers can insert adware or malware into the plugins so be careful and only install apps and extensions from trusted and well-known developers.
Example: 5 of 7 ‘Help - I need money!’
If you get a message from a friend or family member saying they are stranded somewhere and they need you to send them money - don’t! Try to contact them, as they have likely had their account hacked. Scammers will ask you to use an international transfer service where they can impersonate your friend or loved one and steal the money.
Example: 6 of 7 Quizzes and surveys
Many promise free things but actually are designed to get your personal information with the intention to use it for fraudulent reasons or to sell your details to other organisations or individuals. Giving permission to access your personal information to participate means that you may be giving away all your personal details, your entire activity history and friends list, as well as device information like IP address. To avoid this, only participate in quizzes and surveys which don’t force you to log into your account, or if you do give permission always check what the privacy policy and terms of use are.
Example: 7 of 7 Profile viewers and blockers
No tool or app can show you who has viewed your profile, as social media platforms do not share the data required to develop these. This is a ploy to get your personal data when you click on the link.
Scammers pretending to be Tesco
We’ve picked up on some scams on Facebook where scammers are impersonating Tesco - these are fake and so do not click on them! And remember - Tesco only has one Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TescoIreland. Any other page is not official and is potentially a scam.
Free Tesco Vouchers
We don't run this kind of facebook competition.
'Tesco Offers' page
We don't have a separate ‘offers’ page. The fake voucher giveaway is just the bait used to trick people into engaging with the bogus page, and there are no real prizes up for grabs.
Win a €500 voucher
We don't offer rewards for liking, sharing, and commenting on posts, so if you see this it isn’t genuine.