How To Tell A Facebook Competition Scam

There is a Facebook scam going around from Kmart Australia, with a chance to win one of fifteen Samsung Smart TV. There have been a few entrants already, so I would like to educate people on how to smell a Facebook scam.

The Scam

This is what the scam reads:

We are giving away 15 of these ’40inch LED 1080p Samsung Smart TV’s’ to all you Aussies.
To enter: Just Share & Like this photo.
Winners will be messaged and announced tomorrow night. Good luck, some of last weeks winners was Sarah Cape, Joel Green, Simon Perch and Olivia Green.

How To Tell A Facebook Scam

Here are a few reasons why this is a scam:

Is it a legit Facebook Page?

This scam is not running on the official Kmart Australia page. Official pages will be in the format of www.facebook.com/pagename. For example, the Official Kmart Australia Facebook page URL is https://www.facebook.com/KmartAustralia. If you look at the URL of the page of the scam, it is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kmart-Australia/470001859752840

Check the number of Likes

At the moment, the official Kmart Australia page has 8500+ likes. The Fake one only has 779. You can’t expect a company that has been in Australia for many years only to have less than 1000 likes.

Check when the page was created

If you scroll to the bottom of the page (or use the year navigation on the right), it looks a little suss when you see this.

Know the Facebook Competition Rules

You cannot like or share a status or picture to enter

Facebook competition rules prevent people from running competitions by getting people to like or share a post on Facebook.

For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall.

You can not announce or contact winners on Facebook

To contact or announce winners, you will need to do so off Facebook – however, you are free to post a link on Facebook to the webpage that announces the winners.

You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages.

Abide By Australian Law

If a prize is worth a certain amount of money (depends on each Australian State or Territory), you will need a permit, if it’s a game of chance. Assuming the prize is worth $15000  ($1000 x 15 TV’s); you will defiantly need a permit to run the game of chance competition. The Kmart competition is a game of chance as everyone has an equal opportunity to win. It’s basically a random draw, and there is no permit numbers listed.

If it is a game skill (as in you need to answer questions), then you don’t need a permit in most cases (depending on the prize).

Don’t be fooled again

I hope this will help you determine competition or giveaway scams on Facebook. However, you can always trust me in my giveaways, such as the iiNet Giveaway, Samsung Galaxy S4 giveaway, and others.