Yahoo Finance “FREE PIZZA!”: The new scam tricking you into handing over your details
Scammers are trying all different kinds of ways to steal your information, your identity and your money: through your coffee machine, your mobile number, and dating profiles.
But a new scam that has recently started doing the rounds on Facebook is trying to dupe people in a simpler, more direct way: through your stomach.
First exposed by Australian website Hoax Slayer, a link on Facebook that looks like a coupon for pizza chain Little Caesars – complete with the dotted cut-out lines, a barcode and a validity date – claims to be giving away “3 FREE Large Pizza to EVERYONE!” for the company’s 60th anniversary.
But by pausing just seconds before clicking, you’ll notice that the URL is not what it seems: ‘caesar’ is spelt incorrectly, and the latter end of the URL is more complex than a simple “.com”.
Clicking the link takes you to the scam website, which appears sparse, roughly built and is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
You’ll be asked to complete a short survey, at the end of which you’ll be told: “Congratulations! You won 3 Large Pizza at Little Caesars!” regardless of the answers you give.
The bottom of the survey also features what appears to be a Facebook comment section filled with dubious accounts all claiming to have won the pizzas.
Little Caesars US hit repeatedly by the same scam
It appears as though the scam has been much more active in the US than it currently is in Australia.
A number of posts on Little Caesars US’ Facebook Page, some stretching as far back as mid-2016, reveal that the pizza chain has been something of a regular target for scammers.
A similar post was made in November last year.
The scam appears to have scaled the number of free pizzas from just one, as was the case in 2016, to three.
Australians still at risk
While it appears Aussies haven’t been hard hit by this scam yet, the potential for damage is there, Hoax Slayer owner Brett Christensen told Yahoo Finance.
“At this point, I can’t say for sure if Australians are seeing the scam post or not,” he said.
“These Facebook scam posts target users all around the world. Facebook users share them and they tend to spread from country to country.
“These scam posts travel far and wide and don’t respect boundaries.”
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