Dozens of merchants in Quebec are victims of scammers who steal their identity online and then trick their customers who participate in their contests on social networks.
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“It’s pretty ordinary… It’s the second time we’ve been hacker by them after launching a contest on Facebook,” sighs Daniel Poirier, owner of the TOU & Cie boutique.
This merchant from La Malbaie, in Charlevoix-Est, launched a draw on Facebook for Father’s Day at the beginning of the month by offering a pizza oven. Several of the participants were immediately contacted by scammers who usurped the identity of his company.
“They simply copy and paste our Facebook page, with our photos and publications, denounces Mr. Poirier. They then contact customers privately to say they won the contest and ask for their private info, but that’s fraud!
A “plague”
THE Log found dozens of posts related to online draws where traders, like Daniel Poirier, have been sounding the alarm for weeks.
“Honestly, internet fraud is a real scourge on so many levels. It is extremely easy for [arnaqueurs de] Facebook contest to make a fake page and contact people directly. What has already happened to us often, ”says Cyril Yazbek, manager of the “Online circular” page.
The latter adds that he reports each time the misleading page “under the pane “Theft of intellectual property”” so that the company Meta removes it.
“But fraudsters often come back three or four times on each fraud attempt with new pages and there is nothing to do. The only real solution seems to be to educate people as much as possible,” admits Mr. Yazbek.
don’t click
According to our information, the scheme of these little scammers is always the same.
They spot a Facebook page of a merchant who is launching a contest, clone the page by stealing their photos and then contact participants in the draw. The scammers claim that the Internet user is the lucky winner.
They finally send a fraudulent link to steal their banking information, on which you must not click to avoid falling into the trap.
“If you respond to the communication, the scammer is telling you that to receive your prize you must first buy something or pay a fee up front. They may ask you to send funds through a money transfer company like Western Union or MoneyGram, or provide prepaid gift cards. Your prize is never returned to you. There are many variations of this fraud,” notes the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center.
Report the scammers
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) strongly suggests that you do not share personal information online before verifying it.
“Because it can lead to identity theft or other types of fraud. Do not participate in any competition, do not pay or buy anything before having investigated”, indicates in an email addressed to the Log the police force.
The SPVM also invites Quebecers to contact the authorities if they are victims of this type of scam.
“Fraud schemes are unfortunately numerous and recurrent on Facebook. We have not noticed a significant increase in the last few months in the cases reported to us,” says the SPVM, which does not have precise statistics on scams related to Facebook contests.