Scam alert! Have you fallen victim to fake social media pages?

Warnings have been issued over fake brand pages that scammers use to syphon off personal details from unwitting members of the public.

The scam involves a fake brand page, which looks genuine and has tens of thousand of likes, offering free items, vouchers or food from the company's CEO as a "gesture of good will" on the run up to Christmas.

The scammers will then DM (direct message) the customers who commented and shared the post asking them to sign up with their personal information to receive a voucher which in the end is fake.

One of the fake pages was for the Toby Carvery restaurant chain. A spokesperson for the company said: “Unfortunately there has been an upsurge in fake Facebook pages being created with the core aim of collecting contact and payment details from people.”

Similar scams have been reported involving Wagamama and Primark.

Advice Direct Scotland (ADS), which runs Scotland’s national consumer advice service consumeradvice.scot, has urged Scots to be cautious.

Anyone who has been a victim of a scam or is concerned about suspicious activity can contact consumeradvice.scot advisers for free advice on 0808 164 6000 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm) or visit www.consumeradvice.scot.

The organisation has reminded consumers to be careful of anyone:

• Asking you to make upfront payments, especially if it’s to release funds for a loan or prize money.
• You’ve never heard of or had dealings with in the past. For example, you’ve won a competition you don’t remember entering or you owe money to a company you haven’t heard of.
• Asking for personal information – like your bank details, passwords or PIN numbers, legitimate companies would never ask for this type of information.
• Pressuring you into a sale.

If you have been contacted by someone and you are concerned they may be trying to scam you:

• Don’t send them any money or buy anything - you should always do your homework before agreeing to anything. For example, checking online reviews of the company.
• Don’t give them any personal information, bank details, passwords or PIN numbers. If you’ve given out this type of information, you should change all passwords and pins and notify your bank.
• Don’t download any attachments or files in emails or click on any links. If you have then you should check that your devices security is up to date and run a virus scan.
• Don’t ring any numbers you’ve received in an email or letter, especially if it’s a premium rate number. If you’re unsure about the cost of dialling a particular number, contact your service provider for advice.

Marjorie Gibson, head of operations with ADS, said: “As a general rule if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is – and it’s always worth exercising extra caution just to be sure. This particular scam is an attempt to collect contact and payment details from people.

“Always be wary of anyone asking for personal information – like your bank details, passwords or PIN numbers - as legitimate companies would never ask for this type of information. But scammers are very persuasive and convincing, so anyone in Scotland who is concerned should contact our advisers for free, impartial and practical advice.”

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