Fake Thomas Cook Facebook Page Promises Free Holidays
The original site is no longer online; links go to the Internet Archive copy.
What the fact-checkers found
According to posts from a Facebook Page that calls itself “Thomas Cook Fans”, you can win a family holiday to Tenerife just by sharing and commenting or clicking a “sign up” button.
The Facebook Page features the Thomas Cook logo along with videos and photographs related to the UK based travel company.
However, the Facebook Page has no connection to Thomas Cook and it is not giving away any holidays. Facebook users who participate in the bogus giveaways have no chance of winning the promised Tenerife holidays.
Instead, the Facebook Page is a scam designed to trick you into providing your personal information on dodgy websites.
The logo, videos, and photographs used on the scam page are stolen from genuine Thomas Cook websites and social media pages. The image depicting the supposed free ticket envelope was stolen from a January 2018 news report about a Thomas Cook travel agent.
By insisting that people share and comment for a chance to win, the scammers ensure that their fake posts are seen by an ever-increasing audience of potential victims. And, clicking the “Sign Up” button on the page opens an unrelated website that promises the chance to win further prizes in exchange for supplying your name, home address, email address, and phone numbers.
The information you provide will be shared with unscrupulous marketing companies who will subsequently inundate you with suspect “offers” and “deals” for a range of products and services you most likely neither want nor need.
And, no matter how many websites you sign up on, you will never get any entries into the promised Tenerife holiday prize draws. There are no holidays and there will be no winners.
Note that the genuine Thomas Cook Facebook Page, which includes Facebook’s verified icon to prove its authenticity, makes no mention of the supposed holiday giveaways.
If one of these fake posts crosses your News Feed, do not be tempted to participate. Doing so will only help Facebook scammers and, to reiterate, your chances of winning anything are precisely nil.
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