Yet Another iPhone Giveaway Like-Farming Scam

No iPhones are being given away and there are no winners. The post is a typical like-farming scam designed to gather as many likes as possible in the shortest possible time. Once the fraudulent Page that the post comes from has gathered a large number of likes, it can be either used to launch further scams or sold on the black market to other scammers.

According to a circulating post generated via a ‘Fans of Apple’ Facebook Page, you can win one of 100 new iPhones just by liking and sharing the post, liking the associated Page, and adding a comment specifying which colour phone you would like should you win. The post includes an image depicting an iPhone 5s apparently being unboxed along with the caption ‘iPhone 5s 1Like = 1Want’.

But, alas, the claim in the post that iPhones – even outdated iPhones – are being given away is a lie. There are no prizes. No amount of liking, sharing, and commenting will win you one of the promised phones. The image used in the scam post is taken from 2014 news reports that discuss an iPhone trade-in program.

In fact, the Page is just another Facebook like-farming scam designed to trick users into promoting the same scam to their friends and offering up their likes. By asking people to like, share, and comment on the post, the scammers are effectively turning their victims into their own personal posse of spammers. Liking, sharing and commenting on such material ensures that it is seen by an ever widening pool of potential victims. And, by specifying that users also like the offending Facebook Page, the scammers can gather very large numbers of Page likes very quickly.

Once one of the bogus Facebook Pages has accumulated a large number of likes, it can be used to launch survey scams or other types of fraudulent activity, this time to a much larger potential audience. Or, the Page may be sold on the black market to other scammers who will repurpose it to fit their own nefarious goals. The more likes a Page has the more money it can likely command on the black market.

Like-farming scams like this one are very common. Be very wary of any Page or post that claims that you can win valuable prizes such as tech gear, cars, cruises, airline tickets, or store vouchers just by liking, sharing and commenting.