No, Woolworths And Coles Aren’t Offering Free Gift Cards On Facebook


We all know that I hate Facebook. It’s annoying, in your face and now it’s falling victim to the same types of bullshit phishing scams that MySpace was plagued with towards the end. It’s time to straighten this one out once and for all: no matter what you share, say or post: Coles is not giving out free gift cards on Facebook.

We’ve all seen the posts. You watch as your friends go down like dominoes to the power of the scam. One person sees the a post from a friend that reads “Thanks Coles”, attached to an external link that reads something stupid like “Free Coles Gift Cards”.

It looks like a fairly legitimate link, and I’ll admit, I’ve clicked it once before. It didn’t take me long to figure out it was a scam when the site redirected externally.

It asks you to authorise an app that scrapes your data for God-knows-what and posts this obnoxious spam back onto your wall ready for the next victim.

It’s getting so bad that Coles and even the Federal Government has stepped in to tell you how not to be an idiot on the internet.

Coles writes:

Unfortunately, there is another ‘Free $500 Gift Card’ link being shared. This is a scam & has no association with Coles. It has been reported & we’re sorry if you or your friends have haven misled by this hoax.

So lets stop this nonsense once and for all: corporations don’t want to just give you things. Use common sense on the internet people, and show this to your friends so that they can get savvy, too. [Stay Safe Online]

Image: Angus Kidman


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