We constantly report about fake competitions on Facebook, but what is behind it and what is the aim of the operators of such sites?
Basically it's about likes, likes, likes as well as USER DATA, which is ultimately sold for a profit. Ultimately, this data ends up in a database, which then hangs around on the internet for years. The user can no longer get out of this cycle.
What does that mean?
At the end, the data of the competition participants is fed into a database and the respective participant can then rely on a number of advertising emails, advertising calls, etc. "be happy". But that's not all, because in most cases such user data is also sold. Such a data set can then earn the seller a few euros.
The fact check
This fake page with a fake competition serves as an example: Audi RS7
If you take part in a competition, you will receive the following answer via private message:
Why? Because the link to the external website where you should leave your data can be quickly filtered by Facebook in the status post and the fake page is shut down in no time.
In order to preserve the lifespan of these fake pages, we simply use private messages.
Some time later you receive this message:



Why all the trouble?
The fraudsters are primarily after personal data or want to lure the user to an affiliate program.
“Side sales” option
It is important to the site operator to get as many “likes” as possible. So he is working specifically to increase the number of fans. At a certain point, this site will be for sale. The fans just wonder at some point what content they will see after the sale and why they liked this page. Relatively harmless, things get uncomfortable when the site targets so-called “affiliates” when the number of fans reaches a certain level.
“Affiliate” option
From a certain point onwards, the description of the competition will be changed.
The conditions of participation are supplemented, usually a link is inserted that you should visit. There are some affiliate programs waiting there through which the “organizer” collects commissions. In the most harmless case, these are partner programs that give the participant 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.
No matter what else happens: the advertised profit doesn't exist!
Be careful when it comes to putting your personal data on the Internet. Don't be fooled! First think – then click!
The famous 3 steps
Such competitions take place on three levels. See also the fake Phantasia Land competition . Because fake competitions, which have a strong virality, are a business model. In contrast to real competitions that are organized by companies for advertising purposes, fake competition organizers use the product as a decoy.
The first step is the bait.
This bait usually appears in the form of a status message on Facebook, a WhatsApp message or, in rare cases, an Instagram message. These baits are all identical in nature: they convey a profit that you basically already have in your pocket. They convey the ease of participation and attract people to a website. This is the bait . The bait is the viral entry into the competition process.
Step two usually represents a website,
...which masquerades as a supposed competition with a question and answer session. This round of questions is not necessarily always present because, on the one hand, it is irrelevant and is only intended to simulate the character of a competition. We also call this step two the bridge . The bridge appears in the form of a fake competition. In this bridge, you are usually promised the prize directly, there is deception and fake elements are used. Ultimately, this bridge is also an illegal component because the promises made are not kept and the structure and display uses protected graphic elements. The corporate design of existing companies and their products are mercilessly exploited; on the bridge people also like to pretend to be the company depicted. Goal of the bridge:
a) Generate virality (example: forward this competition to 20 contacts)
b) a link is installed that should lead to the supposed prize
The third and final step
...represents a so-called affiliate program. You leave the bridge via a link that contains an affiliate code that belongs to a commission program. This is an affiliate whose content, if possible, correlates with the fake competition taking place in the bridge. We call this final link the exit. Note: The exit itself, i.e. the affiliates that are linked to, is not illegal! These are business models in which the respective provider of such programs compensates its sales partners through commissions. These sales partners are recognized by the provider through an identification code, so that every newly registered participant in the affiliate competition can also be assigned to the sales partner. By the way, the person who designs the bridge freely decides which partner program he uses as an exit. We also often find systems that read the participant's origin and device information and thus direct them specifically to different commission programs. Therefore, you can never say clearly which commission program will ultimately be used; in the worst case, you will end up with dubious WAP billing stories or opaque subscription services.
The fake counts!
Therefore, the author of Bait and Bridge, who is also likely to be the respective sales partner of the affiliate provider, has a great interest in ensuring that his fake story sounds as credible as possible in advance, but at the same time also has a high potential for virality.
A good lie is therefore half the battle when it comes to fake news and fake competitions.
Both use the same elements and can therefore be seen as related. However, fake competitions are usually designed in a somewhat more rudimentary manner and are also simpler in their presentation, as the pseudo-editorial part is much smaller. This is probably also the reason why fake competitions are much more widespread than commercial fake news.
Have you found a suspicious competition on Facebook? forward this to us for review .
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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 )

