This is a scam, right?

[D6975]

Looking at the OP's picture, what is wrong with the logo? I don't see it.

The W isn't too bad, but the G and R are both somewhat undernourished, should definitely be chunkier.

 

[duncan788]

A new scam National Rail Ticket has just popped up on my Facebook, this time it's an Oyster card with a 'Year' travel card

 

[Tetchytyke]

Got to love Facebook. Here our local hospice can’t advertise a raffle as Facebook doesn’t accept “gambling” adverts from the Isle of Man, as it’s not an “approved jurisdiction”.

But scammers and fraudsters can do what they want.

That said, if you’re dumb enough to give all your personal details away to an advert like this, you pretty much deserve what’s coming.

 

[dk1]

Got to love Facebook. Here our local hospice can’t advertise a raffle as Facebook doesn’t accept “gambling” adverts from the Isle of Man, as it’s not an “approved jurisdiction”.

But scammers and fraudsters can do what they want.

That said, if you’re dumb enough to give all your personal details away to an advert like this, you pretty much deserve what’s coming.

Some people are extremely gullible. You only have to go back to the free meal at Wetherspoons so many fell for a couple of years back when JDW do no social media whatsoever

 

[jon0844]

The Photoshopping work is amazing on that one!

It's madness that if you report these to Facebook they will say they don't break their rules.

 

[HullRailMan]

It’s a poor reflection on the evolution of the human brain that there are people out there that fall for this obvious nonsense.

 

[jon0844]

It’s a poor reflection on the evolution of the human brain that there are people out there that fall for this obvious nonsense.

The same scams work over and over because there are always new generations of people to fall for them, like children who become adults and haven't been taught that there are people who might seem friendly and respectable, but are purely there to con you. Or older people who start to get things like dementia and become more confused and gullible, with plenty of people out there wanting to take advantage. It's why you have professional beggars taking money from those who think they're helping.

It's also why people should always seek to report these scams and not just assume that if someone falls for them they're idiots. Yes, that might be true in some cases, and some people will take part in scams willingly (like when they think they're buying something stolen, but it is actually cheap counterfeit crap), but the fraudsters are always working to come up with new tricks and can get lucky if they bombard millions of people at once.

I find it more concerning that social media platforms seem to be totally unbothered, and when it comes to financial crimes, the police are also disinterested and just assume your bank will sort it.

 

[BlueLeanie]

Going beyond transport ticketing fraud, I suspect that fraud and misinformation surrounding next year's predicted General Election will be beyond the capability of Police Forces & Electoral organisations to deal with. We've all seen the AI faked videos of our local MPs taking sides in the current wars.

If people are falling for simple "too good to be true" ticket scams like this, how many would click on the "People in *insert town* are voting online for the General Election" type scam?

Thanks for voting!

 

[43066]

That said, if you’re dumb enough to give all your personal details away to an advert like this, you pretty much deserve what’s coming.

Perhaps a little harsh when many people in this category will likely be impaired, perhaps with severe learnings difficulties or dementia. That’s why these crimes are so pernicious; they target those who are most vulnerable.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It's madness that if you report these to Facebook they will say they don't break their rules.

Hmmm. Wonder why that is?

 

[DelW]

The Photoshopping work is amazing on that one!

It's curious that whoever did it, chose to photoshop an outboundary travelcard from Guildford, which is if anything even more improbable than a zones 1 - 6 card would have been.

 

[SussexSeagull]

I have produced paid for advertising for political campaigns on Facebook and you, correctly, have to jump through several hoops and each advert is verified by FB. Why they can't do that for commercial advertising is beyond me.

 

[John Luxton]

Earlier this month an advert for a Merseytravel card started appearing on my FB feed. It showed the one concept bus that had been decked out in the Metro livery similar to the Manchester Bee Line and a hand holding up a Merseytravel Metrocard of the same type the concessionary passes are issued on - overall add was very similar in style to the GWR ones.

There were several testimonial comments below which appeared to have Romanian sounding names - they certainly were not "Smith or Jones"

I reported them twice to FB as a scam and they have not reappeared.

Thus one presumes other transport operators will be targeted around the country.

 

[adc82140]

I report these every time. They seem to come in batches. There was a big outbreak a couple of weeks ago along with the "Argos are giving away iPads for £1" type, but all quiet in the last week or so.

 

[londonbridge]

Try reporting to Argos (and Sainsburys, who own Argos these days) as well as Facebook. Facebook may not take any notice of individuals, but if they start getting enough complaints from companies and corporate firms mentioned in these scans they might actually start doing something about them.

 

[island]

I have produced paid for advertising for political campaigns on Facebook and you, correctly, have to jump through several hoops and each advert is verified by FB. Why they can't do that for commercial advertising is beyond me.

They can, but they don’t, because they don’t get any benefit from doing so.

Much easier to just say too bad so sad, report it to InAction Fraud.

 

[Kite159]

Facebook don't care about the scam adverts, they still get paid by the dodgy companies to host them. The only way things will change is a change in the law to make the likes of Facebook more responsible for paid-for advertising & marketplace scams.

 

[Howardh]

Facebook don't care about the scam adverts, they still get paid by the dodgy companies to host them. The only way things will change is a change in the law to make the likes of Facebook more responsible for paid-for advertising & marketplace scams.

There was a good few scam adverts containing the name and face of Martin Lewis, but not seen any of those for over a month, so something's been done. Maybe Martin threatened to sue?

 

[Krokodil]

There was a good few scam adverts containing the name and face of Martin Lewis, but not seen any of those for over a month, so something's been done. Maybe Martin threatened to sue?

He did, they settled out of court by donating £3m to an anti-scam charity and adding a "report scam" tool. What happened to the latter I've no idea.

 

[Kite159]

He did, they settled out of court by donating £3m to an anti-scam charity and adding a "report scam" tool. What happened to the latter I've no idea.

Footage within the Facebook HQ when someone uses that 'report scam' tool;

(gif showing a shredder located underneath a printer with the paper falling directly into it after being printed)

 

[Turtle]

Footage within the Facebook HQ when someone uses that 'report scam' tool;

(gif showing a shredder located underneath a printer with the paper falling directly into it after being printed)

Excellent!

 

[Jamesrob637]

That's why it is an idea to subscribe to the TOCs themselves. Northern have emailed me today about a Flash Sale, starting on the 3rd of January. This I know to be genuine, not least because the precedent has been set.

 

[northwichcat]

Seems there's now a Bee Network version of this scam: https://www.facebook.com/ayluchiojeda

1 Year Free Rides Bee Card,

• 
  Page · Transportation Service

Enjoy a year of complimentary travel with our new transportation card!

Get our latest card and forget about transportation costs.

Limited-time offer until 29.02.2024
To obtain your individual card, click on the link below

 

[jon0844]

If you click the link, you obviously win, then get this page which seems like they've been a bit lazy!



Image showing a page with Bee Network, Oyster and an Australian Opal card. Well, which is it?! Or maybe it's all of them, which makes it even better value.

 

[northwichcat]

The shown country code on the phone field shows the Poland extension. Wonder if it's where the scam originated or whether they're also trying to target Polish people in another scam?

 

[jon0844]

I'd pay £2, sorry 2£, for a global travel card.

(I think the way the currency is written is another clue).

FWIW I've reported the site. I have 0% belief Facebook will do anything about it of course.

 

[Kite159]

I'd pay £2, sorry 2£, for a global travel card.

(I think the way the currency is written is another clue).

FWIW I've reported the site. I have 0% belief Facebook will do anything about it of course.

Most likely you will get a response along the lines of "We have investigated and found it breaches none of our rules"

 

[Busaholic]

Just the use, twice, of the word transportation would show me it's a scam. Actually, transportation would be a suitable punishment for any scammer caught, with hard gruel of course.

 

[AndrewE]

The shown country code on the phone field shows the Poland extension. Wonder if it's where the scam originated or whether they're also trying to target Polish people in another scam?

or it's from somewhere else entirely (maybe a bit futher east) trying to both con us in the west and bring trouble for the Poles - and for relationships within EU/Nato?

 

[northwichcat]

or it's from somewhere else entirely (maybe a bit futher east) trying to both con us in the west and bring trouble for the Poles - and for relationships within EU/Nato?

Of course almost all countries have criminal gangs and sometimes they try to pretend to be a different country because they think it'll mean they won't get caught. I remember a news report about American scammers trying to pass as Nigerian scammers as they thought it would mean the US authorities wouldn't attempt to track them down.

Most likely you will get a response along the lines of "We have investigated and found it breaches none of our rules"

It is annoying that their algorithm picks up people quoting from TV shows on pages designated to TV shows, takes the quotes out of context and automatically restricts someone's account. Yet when someone is doing something with malicious intent they don't see it as an issue if they are paying Facebook to promote the post.

If ITV operated in the same way as Facebook we'd have seen Harry Hill banned for TV Burp and known criminal gangs advertising during half time in the World Cup Final.