Have you seen this Facebook competition to win Smyths Toys vouchers? Don’t click on it – it’s a SCAM
Over 25,000 people have 'liked' the scam page
THOUSANDS of Facebook users could be falling victim to this shopping scam, costing them hundreds of pounds.
Parents are once again being targeted by scammers as a fake Facebook page has been set up pretending to be Smyths Toys Superstores.
So far, more than 25,000 people have liked the page and more than 11,000 people have shared a fake £300 giveaway that has now been removed.
The bogus page has been reported to Smyths and to Facebook.
Smyths has said: "We are currently investigating this and hoping to have it removed asap."
Scam pages such as this rely on you liking its page so they can later bombard you with scam website posts.
Just a few weeks ago, a similar scam offering a chance to win a chocolate hamper got thousands of Facebook users to interact with the page.
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Facebook users are warned that if you interact with fake pages at all, the con-artists can see your Facebook profile, including sensitive information such as your phone number.
In the past, victims have had their phone numbers signed up to premium rate phone numbers, and charged hundreds of pounds for premium texts..
Kez Dancy from , who recently bought £400 of Christmas presents for under a tenner, told The Sun how people can spot scam pages on Facebook.
She advised: "The best way to spot a fake Facebook page is to see if it is verified.
“It will have a blue or a grey tick.
“Also look at how long the page has been running, scam ones will only have a couple of photos they have uploaded purely to imitate a brand.”
Con-artists like to imitate toy brands, especially close to Christmas, to get parents to hand over their hard-earned cash, which was highlighted in the Facebook Paw Patrol scam last month.
The fake page and the official page look nearly identical, apart from a few giveaways, such as the verified blue tick.
If you have shared this competition post, you are advised to remove it from your timeline to prevent the fake page reaching even more people.
Kez said: “Expect more fake pages to pop up in the run to Christmas, so please be aware.”