Free Tesco and Primark Voucher scams hit Facebook

Earlier this week I warned of the ASDA shopping voucher scam that was spreading across Facebook.

But that isn’t the only company in the firing line. Similar scams are spreading across the social network, where fraudsters are simply changing the name of the store that they claim is offering vouchers.

For instance, scams are also spreading using the names of Primark and Tesco.

Get Free £500 PRIMARK Voucher Now. (426 Left)
[LINK]

Claim your Free £500 PRIMARK Voucher this Christmas. Offer still open!.

Just as with the ASDA example, these scams involve tricking users to re-share a link (driving even more traffic – such as Facebook friends – to the fraudulent offer), and often earn money by signing users up for expensive premium rate services or by taking commission-generating online surveys.

Of course, you never receive an actual shopping voucher. It’s just a scam.

And, unfortunately, Facebook hasn’t been able to do a great job of proactively stamping out these scams – so expect more to pop up in the future, perhaps involving other brands.

Some Facebook users are clearly miffed that they have been duped by the scammers:

SO WHERES MY VOUCHER THEN NEW IT WAS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Tesco is unimpressed that its brand is being brought into disrepute by the scammers as well, posting a message on its official Facebook page:

SCAM WARNING: Please do not click on ads, links or pages offering ‘Free Tesco Shopping Vouchers’ that appear to be from Tesco. They are nothing to do with us and may be trying to rip off either you or your information. Please warn your friends.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.