Fake social media deals: the booby-trapped gift scam

Scrolling through your feed and stumbling on an unbeatable offer feels good: a big brand clearing stock, an influencer giving away a prize, a gift to claim in a few clicks. It is precisely that immediate joy that scammers exploit. The fake social media deal does not target your suspicion, it targets your enthusiasm.

Recognising a fake deal

Several set-ups come up, often combined within a single post.

The impersonated brand is the most common. An account copies the logo, the name, and the tone of a well known retailer, give or take one variation in the handle. It announces an exceptional sale or a giveaway of products due to "overstock", then sends you to a page outside the social network.

The fake influencer account works the same way. The scammer clones the profile of a followed personality, photo and posts included, and announces a big prize draw. The comments from enthusiastic "winners" are fabricated to make the whole thing look credible.

The final lever is almost always the gift against postage. The prize is presented as free, you just have to pay a few pounds of delivery. You then enter your card details on a form that, in reality, triggers recurring charges or resells your data.

The signals that give the trap away

Some clues come up in almost all of these operations:

• a recent account, with few followers, imitating a known brand or person;
• a marked urgency, "offer valid today", "only a few prizes left";
• an outbound link to a site unrelated to the brand on display;
• a request for card details for a gift that is supposedly free.

Before you commit, take the time to assess the offer. You can describe the situation in our scam test to spot the warning signs and decide whether you are better off walking away. Simply pausing is often enough for the trap to reveal itself.

The essential reflex: never give your card

The most protective rule is simple. A legitimate prize draw or gift never asks for your card details. The moment a "free offer" demands a payment, however small, treat it as fraudulent.

A few habits round out this line of defence. Always check that it really is the official account of a brand or personality, recognisable by its age and its history. Hand over no bank details or password on a page reached from a social media post. If you have doubts about a competition, contact the brand through its official website to confirm it genuinely exists.

If you have already shared your details

If you entered your card on one of these forms, act without delay. Contact your bank to report the transaction, watch for charges, and block the card if necessary. Keep screenshots of the post, the account, and the payment page.

Finally, report the fake account to the platform and report the fraud to a national fraud reporting service such as Action Fraud, which points you toward the right steps. These fake deals extend the other traps of online shopping: for a full view, see the online shopping scams guide.