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Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:52 am
UPDATE 3/9/2022: Since my original post I’ve been contacted by another IG profile sharing I’d won an iPhone again. It’s the same tactic but using a different promo profile to claim the prize.
Well just like the iPhone giveaway scams have made their rounds on Facebook It looks like Instagram is the next target. I’m not surprised since they are owned by the same company.
Today I had a very interesting surprise. I was checking my Instagram a little while ago to see I had been tagged in a post. This is nothing new I get tagged by others often for giveaways.
Yet, today’s giveaway was for something I never entered and it appears I won. Raise any red flags with anyone else?
Although this isn’t anything new this giveaway scam needs to be talked about.
the scam
The scam is simple a fake profile is created to spam folks saying they won an iPhone. They usually mass tag users. So you check out the website and the info. You may be asked to visit a link in bio or directed to an off-platform website.
Once off the platform, you may be asked for credit card info along with your name and address or in some cases asked to sign up for a website. I’ve even seen some that want you to join a movie streaming website.
I was tagged for this scam
This seems to be an iPhone 13 giveaway scam. From the profile, it seems that they use the same photo of a girl holding an iPhone in one hand and a receipt/bill of sale for $2 in the other hand. I zoomed in on the picture to see that price.
You can clearly tell that it’s a photoshopped/altered picture. The background looks fake and her profile is filled with the same image. Her clothes might change but it’s still the same focus. The iPhone and receipt/bill of sale.
The tag
So as I mentioned I didn’t sign up for an iPhone so when I saw the tag I found it laughable.
The post had a simple yet emoji-filled congratulations message. It also listed myself and about 7 other profiles. One who happened to be a company that makes eyeglasses.
Here’s an the post text:
🤯 Congratulations! You have won an iPhone 13 💥
👇 Click on link in description 👇
👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
👉 @us_promo_us1_13 👈
👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆
You can tell it’s a scam
First off we all know that if you never enter a giveaway how can you win a prize. Secondly, the text directly in a contradictory way. first, they tell you to click on the link in the description then directors you to the partner page of @us_promo_us1_13.
both of these profiles are new the us_promo profile is about a week old whereas the baykieva profile is around 4 hours old.
when I checked the URL that was listed via the us_prmo profile bounty-us. space/ doesn’t even index via Google. It also opens to a page that has Hello on it.
remember
Please remember that if you are tagged or sent a link for a giveaway you didn’t enter it’s a scam. Also, don’t forget you can report these scam profiles to the platform as well.
