Giveaways for Collecting Personal Information on Facebook: Bingooo disappeared, Tropicc appeared

December 11, 2020

After fake Bingooo, a fake Tropicc appeared, asking citizens to submit photos of their ID.

Based on readers’ reports, we came across a fake Facebook page that had the same name as the famous Bosnian and Herzegovininan retail chain – Bingooo. The giveaway, which was the only post published on this page, collected over 5,000 likes and had over a thousand shares. Thanks to the announcement, the page eventually collected more than 10,000 likes.

However, after users reported the page, it was removed from Facebook. You can read the full analysis of Fake Bingo at: “Fake Page of a retail chain “Bingo”.

But only a few days later, we received readers’ submissions regarding the new page using identical tactics – a giveaway based on the collection of personal data. This time it was the retail chain called Tropicc (thanks to the reports, the site was subsequently removed).

English translation:

As always, TROPIC thinks of you, and this year we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will give away 40 “vouchers” each valued at 200 KM.

In order to participate, you need to:

-Like and share the post

-Write TROPIC in the inbox

In just one day, this post was shared by approximately 1,500 Facebook users. What is indicative is that the text of this announcement is written again in the ekavian dialect and that it is identical to the one on the page of the fake Bingo.

English translation:

As always, BINGO thinks of you, this year we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will give away 40 “vouchers” each valued at 200 KM.

In order to participate, you need to:

-Like and share the post

-Write BINGO in the inbox

Soon we have found another fake page, this time it was pretending to be a Serbian company DIS (the page was removed after users’ reports).

English translation:

As always, DIS thinks of you, this year we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will give away 40 “vouchers” each valued at 15,000 dinars.

In order to participate, you need to:

-Like and share the post

-Write DIS in the inbox

This giveaway was announced on June 16, which is only two days before the fake Bingo page appeared. It is most likely that the fake Dis was the source for both Bingooo and Tropicc due to the fact that the text is identical, and that Dis existed longer. The only differences between these are the names and the currencies they used.

However, Tropicc is not the only new fake page. We received a report from a reader about a Facebook page that allegedly shares pillows (the site was subsequently removed thanks to reports). The principle is exactly the same – giveaways, likes, shares and photo of an ID card. Again, this is the only post published on this page and it has only 100 likes.

English translation:

For the third year in a row, the company “Green Tex” gives away its newest top-quality products, to promote our brand and to thank you for the trust you have put in us!

This year we will give away 10 of our newest pillow models “GreenTex Extra Cotton Pillows”

If you want to participate in the giveaway, you should:

Like this post

Like the Facebook page “Green Tex Pillows – Promotion”

Share this post

Write in the comment section “TEX”

The company “GREENTEX” wishes all of the participants the best of luck! Every day, we will randomly pick two lucky winners.

English translation:

Hello respected!

Congratulations! You are one of the winners of our giveaway and you have won the newest pair of “GreenTex” pillows!

In order to check your identity and have the prize delivered to you, please send us:

Your name and surname

Address, location and postal code

3 photos of your ID (Photos should include you ID’s front and back side, on which all four corners of the ID are visible, and a selfie of you holding the ID card)

When you send us all of the above, you can expect your delivery within 3 days.

Congratulations once again and thank you for participating!

NOTE: June 27, 2018.

After the publication of this analysis, we received a new report from a reader. It is a new fake site and a giveaway which was created on June 27. This time, it was a page called Gazprom Promotion offering to give away 300 KM. Since the page already meets the requirements (one post, around 80 likes, and black information fields), we added it to this analysis. We invite you to report this page so that it can be removed as soon as possible.

English translation:

Due to the anniversary of our company, we organized a giveaway in which we will give 30 vouchers each valued at 300 KM.

In order to participate, you will need to:

Like this post

Share this post

Write a number in our inbox from 1 to 1000

English translation:

Congratulations, our random generator has picked you, and you are one of the 30 winners in our giveaway. As your prize, you will receive a 300 KM voucher, and in order to receive it, you will need to send us the following information:

-Location and address of your residence

-Contact number

-A photo of your ID (photo showing both sides of your ID, and a selfie of you holding your ID)

After the giveaway is over, you will receive a text message on the number you have sent us. The message will include information about the place where you can pick up your prize (when you collect your prize, you will have to show the ID card you have already sent us).

NOTE: June 28, 2018.

Fake giveaways published on the pages of Tropic and Gazprom have been removed thanks to users’ reports. However, readers have, again, informed us that a new fake giveaway page called Konzumm has appeared, and we invite you to report this page so it can be removed.

NOTE: July 12, 2018.

Our readers have continued to report fake giveaway pages. Below we created an overview of all those that have appeared:

Robott (2,500 likes, page created on July 10, 2018) *the page was subsequently removed thanks to the reports

English translation:

As always, ROBOT thinks of you, this year we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will give away 40 “vouchers”, each valued at 200 KM.

In order to participate, you will need to:

-Like and share the post

-Write ROBOT in the inbox

”Like, share and win” (180 likes, page created on July 7, 2019) – This page is still active, thus we invite you to report it by following the instructions at the end of this analysis.

English translation:

THERE ARE 37 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE AND WIN 37 AMAZING TV DEVICES.

Thanks to our sponsors: WINWIN, VIVAX, EMMEZETA, ELIPSO, AND LG We will be giving away 37 amazing TV devices

30 VIVAX LED-32LE110T2 LED

THREE SONY SMART KD-55XF9005 LED

THREE SAMSUNG SMART UE55M5582AUXXH

ONE LG SMART OLED77C8LLA

What you need to do is:

LIKE

COMMENT that you have done the previous steps

The winners will be announced on Saturday, July 14t, at 15:00 o’clock. Goooood luck to all of you!!!

Vivax (530 likes, page created on July 8, 2018) – *the page was subsequently removed thanks to the reports.

Your VIVAX, along with many other discounts and low prices in our stores, has prepared a GIVEAWAY for you, in which we will be giving away 20 air conditioners, and everything you have to do in order to participate is to:

-Like the post

-Share the post

-Write in our inbox VIVAX.

Good luck to all of you!

Fujitsu – marketing promotion (230 likes, page created on May 20, 2018) – This page is still active, thus we invite you to report it by following the instructions at the end of this analysis.

English translation:

With a mission to promote our products and better connect our customers with our products, we have prepared a GIVEAWAY in which 30 new models of our air conditioners will be gifted, all you have to do is to:

-like the page and share this post

-write in the comment section “KLIMA”

-Every day we will announce 5 winners!

GOOD LUCK!

Mobtrend (580 likes, page created on July 3, 2018) – *the page was subsequently removed thanks to the reports.

English translation:

Respected, we inform you that you are one of the chosen winners of the giveaway on our page MobTrend 😀

You can pick between iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus.

All you have to do it is send us the following information so we can check your identity:

-Address of your residence

– A contact number for our operator

–-A photo of your ID (photo should include both sides of your ID, and a selfie of you holding your ID)

After the identity confirmation, you will receive a text message on the contact number you have sent us, and there you will get all the necessary details on where you can pick up your mobile phone 😀 (To pick up the prize, you’re required to have your ID with you).

Balkan tech (740 likes, page created on July 7, 2018) – *the page was subsequently removed thanks to the reports.

English translation:

Respected, we inform you that you are one of the chosen winners of the giveaway on our page Balkan Tech 😀

All you have to do is send us the following information so we can check your identity 🙂

-Address of your residence

-Contact number for our operator

–A photo of your ID (photo should include both sides of your ID, and a selfie of you holding your ID)

After the identity confirmation, you will receive a text message on the contact number you have sent us, and there you will get all the necessary details on where to pick up your mobile phone

Bosnia Travel (420 likes, page created on July 2, 2018) – *the page was subsequently removed thanks to the reports.

English translation:

Respected, we want to inform you that you are one of the winners of the giveaway on our page Bosnian Travel:D

All you have to do is send us the following information so we can check your identity 🙂

-Address of your residence

-Contact number for our operator

–A photo of your ID (photo should include both sides of your ID, and a selfie of you holding your ID)

NOTE: August 1, 2018.

The fake giveaway pages and posts have been removed from Facebook due to the user reports. However, two sites have decided to continue to post fake giveaways and take personal information from citizens. These are the Fujitsu and Konzumm pages. By clicking on any of the two pages, you will open their page links. We invite you to report these pages by following the instructions at the end of this analysis, so they can also be removed.

English translation:

As always, BINGO thinks of you, this year we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will give away 40 “vouchers” each valued at 200 KM.

In order to participate, you will need to:

-Like and share the post

-Write KONZUM in the inbox

English translation:

-like the page and share this post

-write in the comment section “KLIMA”

-We will announce 5 winners every day!

GOOD LUCK!

Fake pages are still appearing:

Due to new reports, we decided to add two more fake giveaways to our analysis.

The first example includes a fake E-prime Electric Bicycle-Promotion page which has collected more than 2,000 likes on the page and almost the same number of shares on the post with the fake giveaway.

English translation:

-Our company is one of the leading enterprises in the electric bike production and since we want to bring our products closer to the wider population, this year we have prepared a giveaway in which 8 of our bikes will be gifted, and all you have to do is:

-share and like this post

-write in the comment section PRIME

Note: To participate in the giveaway, you must be 18 or older.

GOOD LUCK

The real E-prime company has informed citizens about this fake page, and we invite you to report it by following the instructions at the end of this analysis.

WARNING !!!

Scam attempt!

A Facebook page called “E-prime Electrical Bicycles” is a fake page, which promotes a giveaway in which the winners will be receiving Eprime electrical bicycles, while the main goal is to collect personal data of the winners and their ID photos! As of yesterday, we have been receiving messages from a number of scammed citizens. We kindly ask you not to read information from pages that are not ours. The official E prime FB page is https://www.facebook.com/eprimebikes

The official Instagram page is https://www.instagram.com/eprimebikes/

The official E prime d.o.o website is www.e-prime.com

Your E prime team

There was also a fake page of “Banja Vrućica 2018” which collected an impressive number of likes, with over 5,000 likes. The original page also came forwards and gave instructions on how to report the fake giveaway.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Respected,

A newly created fake page on Facebook called Banja Vrućica 2018 offers a fake giveaway and illegally collects personal data.

As the “award”, the criminal group of people (or an individual) promises a free stay for four people. Those who want to participate and are chosen, are asked to take a photo of their ID and send their phone number.

The address of the fake page is:

We kindly ask you to report the page under the option “Report” (which you can find under the three dots below the cover photo), and then choose the following options:

1.This Place has duplicate or inaccurate info

2.It’s a duplicate place

In case you have already sent your personal information to the page, and if you get contacted by someone, we kindly ask you to report it to the authorities.

Also, ZTC Banja Vrućica will take all adequate measures in order to stop the spread of fake news on social networks.

YOUR Banja Vrućica

Even though the post containing the giveaway has been deleted, the admins of this fake page have published another post, trying to justify deleting the previous one, so we invite you to report this page and this post as well:

English translation:

The post about the giveaway has been deleted because the participants were writing their phone numbers in the comment section, instead of sending the data to our inbox.

Everybody who applied in the right way will be able to participate!:)

And the winners will be contacted through an inbox message as well!

Good luck!!!!!:):):):)

NOTE: September 10, 2018.

We have received a new report from our reader, and have discovered new fake giveaways. This time it is a page called LG, which was created on September 6 and has just 500 followers. In this case, we invite you to report both the page and the post:

English translation:

The company LG wants to thank its users for the years of trust, therefore we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will give you 30 LG G7 ThinQ devices.

If you want to participate all you have to do is:

-like our page

-like and share this post

-pick a number between 1-1001 and send it to our inbox

Also, there is a page, called Letovanje 2018, which was created on May 27, which announced a giveaway on August 31. We invite you to report both the page and the post.

English translation:

Hello people we decided to give away 20 pools with the capacity of 1500l to those who cannot afford them. If you want to win a pol of 1500l, you will need to:

1-Like this post

2-Share this post

3-Write and send a message (I WANT A SUMMER VACATION) to our inbox

Sponsor:FilipTravel

In early September, a new fake website of the retail chain Bingo was created once again. We invite you to report both the page and the post on this site:

English translation:

The Company Bingo wants to thank its consumers for their trust and to celebrate 25 years of work, we are organizing a big Giveaway.

We are giving 30 vouchers with each valued at 250 KM.

If you want to participate, all you need to do is:

Meanwhile, page Robot 2018 had also appeared, and it used the same principle to collect users’ data. This site has gathered almost 5,000 followers. We invite you to report both the page and the post for this site as well:

English translation:

As always, ROBOT thinks of you, and this year we are organizing a GIVEAWAY, where we will be giving away 40 “vouchers” each valued at 200 KM.

In order to participate, you will need to:

-Like and share the post

-Write ROBOT in the inbox

How to recognize fake giveaways and Facebook pages?

We have found that fake giveaways and fake Facebook pages, in general, are not that uncommon. However, there is a way to quickly “figure out” if the page is fake.

When was it created?

For instance, you can easily discover when a specific Facebook page was created. The easiest way is to click on the profile photo. When we open the photo, we can click the arrow to the left to see the first profile photo and check the publication date. This usually answers the question of when the page was created. If there is only one profile photo – finding the publication date is even easier.

What are the posts about?

Regardless of whether the profile photo allowed you to discover publication date, you should always go through the posts on the page. For example, to find out that the Facebook page Tropic created on June 25 was fake, we opened the page and noticed it features only one post – a fake giveaway. The same thing is with the pillow page created on June 22.

How many likes does the page have?

Moreover, we saw that the Tropic page has just over 1,000 likes and the Green tex pillows over a hundred likes. Using this information about the number of likes, time of creation, and the published content, can help us identify the page as fake and its giveaways as personal information theft.

Are there any details?

The Tropic Facebook page and Green tex pillows, just like any other fake page, offer no further information. For example, the “about us” section is completely blank and there is no link to the company’s website. Real pages and profiles, however, especially when it comes to commercial companies, will always do their best to give you as much information as possible. If there is no additional information about the company on the page other than the name and profile photo – it is probably fake.

What to do?

We would like to emphasize that reporting these pages is the best way to protect your friends and other Facebook users from such scams. Reporting fake Bingo page has been successful since the page has been removed, thus we invite you to do the same with the new fake pages as well. You can do this in the following way:

If you are using Facebook on your computer device:

Open the page and click on the three dots option which is next to the option “Share”
Choose the option “Report”
In the window that appears, click on “It’s a scam”
In the new window choose the option “This page is asking me for financial information” or “This page is fake”
In the last window that appears, click on “Mark this Page as a scam”
After you have completed all of these steps, click on “Finish”

If you are using Facebook on your mobile device:

When you open the page on your mobile device, the option is in the upper left corner and it is presented as three dots. Click on them, and after this step, the process is basically the same.

The bigger the number of people that report fake pages, the higher the chances that Facebook will react promptly and delete those pages.

Why do fake giveaways exist?

Raskrinkavanje cannot offer a specific and complete answer to this. What we can offer are several different options for why these sites and giveaways are created.

Facebook pages trading

Facebook has grown from a social network into a large marketplace with ads. People who handle online media outlets, blogs and/or Facebook pages have turned it into a real business. So far, Raskrinkavanje has seen page trading in several places. Admins are willing to give € 5,000 and even more if the page has a significant number of followers. One of the basic models for this business is creating pages with popular names that will somehow attract likes (like in the previously mentioned giveaways). After a page has collected a certain number of likes – all posts are deleted from the page, the page is resold and renamed. The bigger the number of followers and likes on Facebook, the higher the number of shares through such pages, which essentially means a bigger profit for the owners.

Identity theft

It is a dangerous situation for users if the fake page and like trading include data theft. This was the case with Bingo, and such is the case with Tropic and pillows company, and so will it be with the pages that are constantly being created. Hundreds of people have sent photos of their IDs to fake pages hoping to receive a shopping voucher from one of these retail chains. ID photos and the identity itself will certainly be misused, and this always depends on the intent and creativity of the people who are behind these scams. One option is to use it to create an identity for online betting. If someone who wants to bet online is underaged, or for any reason, he/she needs a new profile, he/she can do it with someone else’s or even your identity. He/she has all of the necessary information – including the person’s name, surname, address, identification number…

Another possible theft is during the election period when parties need as many supporter signatures as possible. But this process is already over for the 2018 General Elections. If a political party doesn’t have enough signatures to submit to the Central Election Commission to have its nomination accepted, a photo of the ID card is all they need to get your name on those supporter lists. Again, they have all of your information.

Of course, we don’t know with certainty why people create fake pages, and where the data will be misused. What we know for sure is that you should never send your personal information to people online, especially photos of your personal documents.

(Raskrinkavanje.ba)