A competition is being shared not only on WhatsApp, but also on Facebook, which promises tickets for the park in Brühl.
This competition, which now has a high viral reach, is not an official park campaign. This type of competition is simply a bait competition, which ultimately links to a commission program. Even Phatasialand has already commented on this type of competition:
There is another fake competition going on that you can reach via Whatsapp and Facebook (like in the picture or similar). We have nothing to do with this “competition”! And even if tickets for Phantasialand are offered here, you can't win them. There is more of a risk that your data will be accessed. So:
– Do not click on the link
– Do not share or forward the “competition”
– Share this post so that as many of your friends as possible are informed and warned.
We explain what's behind it, how these competitions work and why so many people are now sharing this competition on Facebook!

This type of competition is not new; in recent weeks, a large number of promises of prizes for amusement parks have attracted negative attention. This is probably seasonal, as the summer holidays are currently starting. Of course, many people are happy when they get free tickets to an amusement park, just as the bait competition promises.
We have already observed this method on WhatsApp, but it can also be found on Facebook. If you have a friend's account on Facebook, you will receive the message shown above! This message is the so-called competition bait. This bait creates a promise of winning and suggests that you basically already have the winnings in your pocket. They convey the ease of participation and attract people to a website. The bait is the viral entry into the competition process. As soon as you follow the link, a website opens on your smartphone.
This website appears to be a supposed competition with a question and answer session. It is only intended to simulate the character of a competition. We also call this step 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 presentation 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.
By the way, you are also asked to share this fake competition on Facebook. This is a condition in order to be able to get the prize at all. At the same time, this supposed condition is also the reason why the competition is so viral.
And this is how “Phantasialand” ends:
As a third and final step, you will be linked to a so-called affiliate program. You leave the bridge via a link that contains a partner 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. In our test run, there was a contradictory link to a commission model with a possible profit for the Belantis in Leipzig.

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.
Conclusion:
The promise of getting a family free ticket to Phantasialand remains unfulfilled. Instead, you end up in viral commission programs. So if you receive these types of messages, you should ignore them!
“Whether you believe that or not. It is like that."
If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:
📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.
Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!
* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!
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 )

