Competition check: Audi R8

“Due to our anniversary, AUDI will be holding a competition where you can win one of two AUDI R8s!” This is how a status post on Facebook begins and thousands of users are misled!

If someone asks us which false reports make our eyes light up, we answer that we love pictures of incredibly expensive sports cars that are wrapped in ribbons and that you can supposedly win them by typing in the color you want in the comments Page liked and friends tagged. Some random Facebook page is giving away an Audi R8 . And you can also choose the color and maybe even the right grill set to go with it. Do not you think? We neither. But many thousands of people always like to believe it.

There is no other way to explain why these fake competitions have such a high number of interactions. Yes, people participate. What is your motivation? A deep-rooted hope of one day winning a sports car on a Facebook page? Is this a kind of modern social media fortune-telling? Or do you just want to show others that you think this vehicle is great by believing in a competition like the following:

[vc_message message_box_color=”grey” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-info”]

Due to our anniversary, AUDI will be holding a competition where you can win one of two AUDI R8s!
You can participate as follows:
– Like and share this post.
– Comment with your desired color
– You have to be a fan of Wintastic.
We will draw two winners from among all participants and announce them here in the comment function on June 20, 2017.
This raffle is not connected to Facebook.
Good luck!

[/mk_info]

We have already seen many loops come and go and in these cases they were fake competitions on Facebook. It was always about interaction - the organizers of such competitions want to collect lots of likes, comments and followers.

Of course there are competition guidelines issued by Facebook, but the creator of such pages is not interested in these at all and Facebook itself does not react here either. There is not even a separate reporting function for this type of competition that a user could use. From a legal point of view, these competitions do not run correctly either, as there are no conditions of participation, contact information or legal notice.

In the current case of the Facebook page “gewinntatisch” there is of course no reputable organizer name.

In this case we can say more than clearly: no one will win a new Audi on this Facebook page.

We would also like to mention…

At this point we would like to point out a comment from the operator, who now also collects private data with a link to an external site, which is then sold. (Keyword: data collector)

So what – a click like that doesn’t cost anything!

Yes, that's right. A click on tempting competition sites usually doesn't cost you anything (as long as it's not a subscription trap behind it). If you define “it costs nothing” purely in terms of material values, then it will probably be that way.

But something can cost more than just money, because what it costs you here is priceless: it costs you your dignity - it costs you your credibility.

It costs you your name when you take part in sleazy competitions that you know deep down are rubbish, but your desire is so great that you end up clicking.

It is your inner compulsion to which you succumb and all people can see your defeat - they can all see that you have given in to the hollow temptation. And it would be easy for us to publicly pillory you here. Everyone would see your avatar and your name, because you have immortalized yourself there and shown that you have dedicated yourself to the site.

You tell everyone your financial situation, you tell us your life plans, you even tell us your favorite color. And for what? For a small, meager hope of winning something for a bit of excitement “on the Internet” without much effort? For your trust in some unknown people behind the scenes who don't actually want to give you anything?