Recent Facebook scam promises two free airline tickets

A recent Facebook post offers two free tickets on Southwest Airlines. But if you click on it, you’ll likely end up paying for something you don’t want.

The post says all you need to do is fill out a survey, but that survey makes you give personal information. Victims could end up paying for rewards like Netflix subscriptions or prepaid credit cards instead of getting those free tickets. Those rewards can sometimes be difficult to cancel.

And to make things worse, the fine print in this offer signs you up for phone calls from multiple telemarketers according to snopes.com.

The two tickets are supposedly good for any destination that the airline flies.

Experts say sometimes these kinds of scams can take over the user’s Facebook profile without them knowing.

How can users know when a post is a scam?

Checking to make sure basic information is correct is a good way to dodge scams like this one.

For example, the post claims the tickets are for Southwest Airline’s 88th anniversary, but even searching Google shows the airline was established in 1967, so it’s nowhere near 88 years old.

Making sure facts like this are correct, and checking for grammar or spelling errors are also good ways to detect scams.

But checking the website URL might be the best way to protect yourself.

Make sure these offers are coming from the official company website.

Scammers want you to click that link so that they can sign you up for calls and emails from marketers and hopefully get some money out of you.

In instances like these experts say it’s good to consider that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

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