We have written about dodgy spam posts in Facebook groups before. Previously, it was the company Beeloans, as they used spam posts pretending to be from someone looking for a loan, only for someone else to immediately post the answer, before locking the post so nobody else could comment and warn others of the spam
It’s a common tactic that has recently reared its ugly head once again. This time, the spam is for free laptops or, rather, it’s pretending to be about free laptops.
In a recent local group, someone with the name TBabe Simpson posted asking how so many people are getting free laptops.
Free laptops, you say? That sounds great if it’s true. Of course, it isn’t. It’s spam. The spam message looks like this:
The spammer then immediately responds to their own post (for some reason) pretending to be replying to someone and sharing the link to helpmemoney.co.uk. The poster then locks the post by switching off comments, so nobody else can comment and point out what a load of crock it all is and how clicking on that link would be a very bad idea.
So what’s the scam? First off, it looks like a genuine question asking from where people are getting something for free. Secondly, it gives the answer. Thirdly it switches off comments so no negative replies can be posted.
So what is helpmemoney.co.uk? A look at the Whois on the domain name shows it was registered on December 13th, 2018, and Nominet has been unable to verify the owner. This is a telltale sign of a questionable domain name, as all .uk domains should be verified.
The domain is registered with GoDaddy – and to be honest is a bit of a worry that they’re allowing spam domains to use their system.
If you visit the homepage of the domain for helpmemoney.co.uk, you’ll see that it’s a 404 Page Not Found error, meaning there is no website there. However, if you look at the actual link shared on Facebook, you’ll see a very dubious offer for stating they’re giving away 500 Toshiba laptops.
Ooooh… sounds great!
Clicking on this image takes you through to the website producttesting.uk.com, which is a website where you can apparently sign up as a product tester for a number of different products and, if selected, you’ll be sent the products to review and keep. The Facebook Group spam is a result of the affiliate scheme they have, where people can earn money for every person who signs up with them.
Do you want any part in this? I would advise against it. While this does appear to be a genuine company, they seem to be collecting data in order to sell on to third parties – at least if their reviews on Trust Pilot are anything to go by.
Complaints there suggest you’re unlikely to ever get any actual products to review but, instead, you’ll get text alerts from third parties and offers for loans and sign ups.
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
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