The creators of fake competition sites realize that they don't even have to make an effort to appear reputable. All you have to do is give the site a simple name and post a pseudo-competition, and the hordes of greedy people will come.

There is currently another typical example:

Screenshot Facebook
Screenshot Facebook

“You can do it on July 31st. Win a Cube Stereo Hybrid 140 TM 500 2018 worth 4,799.00 euros”

…that’s what the well-known and popular brand “Bicycle” promises. Everyone knows it, so it has to be serious.

What needs to be done for this?

Come on, let's all say it together: like , share , comment .

Nobody will fall for it anymore!

Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that! As you can see in the screenshot above, there were tens of thousands of users who believe that Facebook is a big raffle where prizes are constantly being thrown around.

Screenshot Facebook
Screenshot Facebook

Scrolling through the comments, you'd think you were at a mass wedding. More “I want”s than the average parish priest hears at the altar in his entire career!

How do you know if it isn't serious?

can easily recognize such fake sites . If several points are missing , you can be sure that the page only wants to entice you to like and share it:

MIMIKAMAOwner of the site / contact person
MIMIKAMA Imprint
MIMIKAMA Contact option
MIMIKAMA Conditions of participation
MIMIKAMA Exemption from Facebook

Although some of the points on the page above are met, the most important points are missing: contact person and legal notice! The only contact option is a link to the site's Facebook Messenger.

Screenshot Facebook
Screenshot Facebook

By the way, the site has now deleted its “competition”. But it's only a matter of time before the next posting with empty promises appears.

It won't hurt if I comment on it!

Not on the surface, except that you're showing all your friends and acquaintances on Facebook how gullible you are.
But the creators of such pages also have another purpose: in the first wave they only collect fans. And this works very quickly with this stitch. Such pages often have up to 50,000 fans within 1-2 days.

In the second wave , however, he begins to attract his fans to external websites. Now the user has to fill out a competition form all at once. With this scam, the organizer collects user data. This data is then stored in databases, which are then sold to companies. The other player then receives spam emails or spam calls from various companies in the following weeks.

Checklist

So, to help everyone memorize, here's a checklist of how to recognize such pages:

MIMIKAMAUsers are forced to “Like” and “Share”
MIMIKAMA There is no (credible) imprint
MIMIKAMA No conditions of participation
MIMIKAMA No contact option
MIMIKAMA No correct company exists
MIMIKAMA Page has only existed for a very short time
MIMIKAMA No winners are announced
MIMIKAMA Prizes are provided by sponsors who “are not named want”
MIMIKAMA The winnings are advertised with copied images from the Internet.
MIMIKAMA For well-known companies, look for the blue verification check mark behind the page name in the cover photo

 


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 )