Tesco TV giveaway on Facebook exposed as scam to obtain personal and bank details

A social media post tempting users with the offer of a flat screen television has been exposed as a scam by a law firm.

The post purports to be from supermarket chain Tesco – but it is a ruse designed to trick people into handing over their personal details.

Fraudsters claim the supermarket has 500 fully-working, 55″ Samsung 4k TVs that have minor damage, so will be binned if they can’t find a home for them, reports MirrorOnline.

Scammers used convincing pictures claiming to show the TVs in the Tesco warehouse, as well as setting up fake pages on social media and online.

Legal outfit Griffin Law, which uncovered the scam, estimated at least 100 people had reacted to the fake Facebook page or signed up to receive an email.

The fake Facebook page, called ‘Tesco UK’, used official branding. It read: “We have around 500 TV’s in our warehouse that are about to be binned as they have slight damage and can’t be sold. However all of them are in fully working condition, we thought instead of binning them we’d give them away free to 500 people who have shared and commented on this post by July 18th.”

Unsuspecting Brits enthusiastically shared the post, hoping to qualify for a free TV, with one writing: “I’d love to, thank you Tesco!”

The original fake Tesco Facebook page is now listed as ‘Content unavailable.’

Hours later, people were reporting email scams, again using Tesco branding and offering them the chance to ‘claim their prize’.

The email read: “Hey [Victim’s name]! Thank you for entering our competition to win a new TV. You’ve won, congratulations! Please click ‘Claim TV’ to get your TV. We hope you enjoy it! ” 

A button in the email directs people to a landing page to enter their name, home address, telephone number and bank account details.

Source: nottinghampost.com