Dubai: No, the Dubai Crown Prince is not giving away free seven-night hotel stay to 15 lucky winners on Facebook.
If you are one of the thousands who “liked” and engaged with a post on Facebook claiming to be of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, be more careful next time because it is a hoax.
Gulf News reported the page already with 34,000 “likes” to Facebook on Tuesday thanks to the vigilance of Sufiya Zaheer Ahmad, a Gulf News reader. The social media giant has taken it down since.
This scam has become an all too common means to lure Facebook users to “like” or “share” the bogus page to achieve a “high popularity rating” based on Facebook’s standards. Scammers would use influential personalities or popular brands such as airline companies to announce a giveaway to lucky followers.
Users should be extra cautious in “liking” or interacting with these posts because once the page achieves as many likes as it can, the US-based ConsumerAffairs.com said it would then be used to “spread malware, collect people’s marketing information or engage in other harmful activities; or outright sells the highly liked site to cybercriminals in a black market web forum”.
To know whether a page is genuine or not, look for the blue badge right beside the page’s name. This is a blue check mark that means Facebook confirms that it is an authentic page for that public figure, media organisation, or brand. Shaikh Hamdan’s Facebook page is a verified page and has that blue badge.
Also, read the ‘About’ section of the page and you will see that the information contained either could not be independently verified, is downright wrong, or is misleading. Check also if that page has just been created recently.
