The Facebook page called “ Coca Cola Fans ” has been spreading new competitions for days, which are subsequently deleted again and again - and replaced by a new competition. The creator probably comes from Slovenia, because only status posts are created in Slovenian.

But since Facebook automatically translated such posts into the respective national language, Facebook users also see these posts in GERMAN and many users don't even think about why they weren't generally written in German.

Example of the “Coca Cola Fans” competition that has been published by the site so far and some of which have been deleted again:

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Screenshot Facebook: These competitions have so far been published by the wrong Coca-Cola page!

The page itself was created on March 27, 2022 and was first called “ Czc cz ”. The page name was finally to “ Coca Cola Fans April 8, 2022 . This can be recognized by the so-called “page transparency”. This “page transparency” can be found on every PAGE on Facebook.

NOTE: If you search for it, you won’t find the “Coca Cola Fans” page.
The reason: The site operator is using a trick here. He doesn't use an "L" for the "L" in "Coca CoLa", but an "i". Since this "i" is not displayed on Facebook due to the font, you can't see it visually immediately. You can first see this when you switch from uppercase to lowercase letters. We only noticed it ourselves when we wrote this report. Since we simply copied and pasted the name of the page on Facebook, we couldn't immediately recognize it ourselves.

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Screenshot: the operator used a capital “i” after the “L”. This only becomes visible when you activate lower case!
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Screenshot Facebook page transparency

If you look at the “ reviews ” of the site from other users, it becomes clear relatively quickly that it is a FAKE, because other users warn about this site:

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Screenshot Facebook: User reviews

As soon as you comment, you will usually receive information from the operator that you have to enter your cell phone number in a form. Unfortunately, we did not see this form during our research. However, we assume that this is again about collecting data.

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Screenshot Facebook: Note from the operator

Other Facebook users are already warning about these competitions:

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Screenshot: Warning from a Facebook user

THE FACT IS

  1. This is not an OFFICIAL Facebook page of “COCA COLA”
  2. The page was only created a few days ago and does not contain any imprint, contact details or conditions of participation.

Since some people on Facebook are not yet aware that there are no real prizes in such competitions, we would like to explain again...

... the fake competition on Facebook!

Take a real or fictional occasion and tell the user that there is something great to be won on the occasion of these great events. The criteria for participation are quickly listed:

  • Leave a Comment
  • split
  • like
  • send personal message

Sometimes a deadline for participation is added, but the competitions are usually deleted by the operator before this deadline.

To ensure that there are no actual winners, the site owner should be contacted via personal message.
If the fake is successful, a new competition with a different prize will be created within a very short time. It doesn't matter whether you were able to win a car and then a dream house... The main thing is that users interact or follow a link that actually has completely different purposes.

“But if I play along, it won’t hurt anyone!”

True. Only yourself by showing your entire circle of friends and acquaintances on Facebook how gullible you are . You also show this to the creator of the page, who will be very interested in luring you with further competitions in the future in order to get more data from you. Because data brings money. And pages with a lot of likes and shares sell well.

“How am I supposed to know when a competition is real?”

We have a very simple checklist for this. If several or even all of the points on this list apply, you should stay away!

  • Either a well-known brand, a well-known company is represented or an imaginary name is used
  • Users are forced to like and share, which is the case here
  • there is no (credible) imprint
  • no conditions of participation exist
  • no contact option
  • no correct company (imprint) available
  • The site has only existed for a short time, which is also the case here.
  • no winners will be announced
  • Prizes are provided by sponsors who “do not wish to be named”
  • The prizes are advertised with copied images from the Internet
  • For well-known companies, look for the blue verification check mark that is often present behind the page name in the cover photo

Do you have friends who take part in competitions like this?

Then please point out that this is a fake competition. But also explain to them why there is nothing to be gained from this and similar sites. And be emphatic, because if these people have their friends list open on their profile, you, as friends of that gullible person, are also interesting to those who create fake competitions.

What else can happen

Note: Why is/was there this competition? Of course there is a financial interest behind these sites. There are various ways you can profit from successful fake competitions. Everything is possible, from harmless page sales to nasty subscription traps.

So far, we have seen a lot of fake competitions that these types of competitions are always very similar. In the first stage, they seduce with their simple participation. You should share and like a high-quality, potential win. Anyone can do it, it's not a hurdle. This attracts people.

Possibility of “side sales” / “like farming”

The site is then “grown” with the help of these attracting events. The site operator is working to increase fan numbers. At a certain point, this site will be for sale. Fans just end up wondering what content they'll see after the sale and why they ever liked that page.

“Affiliate” option

Once the number of participants reaches a certain point, the description of the competition will be changed. The conditions of participation are supplemented and a link is usually included that you should visit. There are some affiliate programs waiting there through which the “organizer” collects commissions.

In the harmless case, these are partner programs that provide the participant with a lot of advertising; in the extreme case, there is a WAP billing subscription trap hidden behind the link for visitors via smartphone (from which the organizer also collects commissions, of course). Every now and then you can find these sophisticated Facebook pages for sale on eBay.

In keeping with the topic: And once again thousands of Facebook users are taking part in a competition on Facebook from “ALDI”. However, this is NOT an official ALDI website.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )