Scam Alert: iPad “Glitch” Giveaway

We’ve seen our share of fake iPad and Apple giveaways on Facebook. The latest version states there was some glitch in the packaging of Apple products, which will result in users being able to receive a free iPad. Today we’ll take a closer look at this scam.

It’s a “rewards program” scam.

A graphic we’re seeing today is being posted on the behalf of Facebook users, presumably from a Facebook app. When the photo will is shared, many of the user’s friends are tagged as well.

The graphic may have a caption that reads:

Have you heard? this online store is Messing up. They forgot to insert there billing page. I recieved an Ipad and was asked to pay! This is the 2nd I place an order. the first one arrived via mail already. Hurry before it’s repaired. Go to: 65ipad .com (remove space)

65ipad.com looks just like a Facebook page, but it is in fact completely fake. This is done so that the creators of the site can give the impression that other users are receiving iPads. It’s completely bogus.

Clicking on any links on this page will send you to a page on branddealonline.com, which – as we expected – is nothing but a “rewards program” which will require users to sign up for all sorts of things they don’t want, such as Netflix or credit cards. The program requires you to remain signed up for three months, and requires you to enlist three friends who all must also be signed up for three months, as their terms state:

…acquire one sponsor action point from the Silver Offers Group, two sponsor action points from the Gold Offers Group, and nine sponsor action points from the Platinum Offers Group for a total of 12 sponsor offers; (d) and refer three friends to do the same (i.e. register and complete 1 Silver 2 gold and 9 Platinum Offers).

In the end, we have yet to hear from one person who has ever received a prize from these scams.

Telemarketers

If you give branddealonline your phone number in the signup process, you are giving them AND their partners permission to hound you with telemarketing calls, as they state:

By entering your phone number and clicking the “Continue” button to the right, you are expressly providing your electronic signature, authorization and consent to receive calls (including auto-dialed calls to your land line or wireless phone) from or on behalf of this list of Marketing Partners at the telephone number provided.

What to do if your account is posting this:

• Remove unknown Facebook apps: If this is being posted from your account, please see our article on How to Block or Remove a Facebook App.
• Remove the offending post so that others aren’t fooled into this scam.

Multiple URLs

The URL used is just a temporary throwaway domain that feeds into branddealonline.com. In fact it was only registered one day before this article is being written. It’s likely to be shut down soon, only to be replaced by a similar url as the scam continues. Scammers often reserve a bank of url’s in order to promote their scams. When one is shut down, they merely move to another. Let us know in the comments if you are seeing this same scam from another url.

Similar Scams

This “glitch” scam is just the latest facade for similar Apple scams. We’ve seen iPad “tester” scams, iPad text message scams, and fake Apple giveaways to anyone who likes a page.

Bottom Line

Facebook is rife with Apple and iPad scams. If you see anything offering a free Apple product, it will usually be fake. We’ve seen some small organizations doing giveaways of a single product, but in the case here, these scammers are promising free Apple products to everyone.

If you’ve seen this scam floating around with different details as those listed above, let us know what you’ve seen in the comments below.

Here’s a screenshot of BrandDealOnline: