Update 3-15-10: Scam of the moment Lowe's, Toys R Us, and Victoria's Secret. This company just keeps going and going. I didn't get a chance to ask the Facebook people at SXSW why they still allow this kind of company to operate on their site.
Update 3-9-10: Avatar and the iPod touch are also part of this scam company's ploy.
Here's the FB AD, that I only clicked because my son wanted to see what it did.
And of course when you click on it you get a new scam page. This one focused on the upcoming iPad release. Sure looks a lot like the BEST BUY and TARGET ads.
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These days in the world of quick and disposable social media campaigns, every business has to have a Facebook campaign. And by gosh, they are so easy to start, why wouldn't every business have one?
But what if your BRAND had a Facebook page and didn't even know it? Can Facebook be used to HiJack a national brand? Let's look at the elements of the BEST BUY contest that popped up in my inbox today. (Here's the culprit: superb-rewards.net < top scam artist.)
ONE: The call to action.
So, where it might look like you are becoming a fan of BEST BUY, me thinks you are becoming a fan of: First 20,000 Fans Get a $1,000 Best Buy Gift Card!!! (I wonder if they've done one with single and double exclamation points? This is like v.3)
Now featuring 20,000 Fans Get a $500 Target Card!!!
TWO: So let's see what the INFO tab says.
Uh oh.
Well the comments appear to be open.
At this point you might even be able to guess what's on the TARGET page.
THREE: Let's do it again.
And can you believe that Josh Winslet got his card from TARGET already too. And again Ashley, Sarah, and Allie are on board.
So that's the problem with the Facebook FAN Page system. Anyone can build one. You don't need any approvals or authority to put it up on "behalf of" or in the case "masqurading as" a large corporate entity.
Does Best Buy suffer from this kind of brand hijack? Do I trust Best Buy less as a result of the scam?
What about Facebook? Does Zuckerberg and Co. bear any responsibility for this kind of damage? Does the #1 innovative company for 2010, according to FastCompany, have any control over who does this kind of trash?
My guess is 1. they have no legal liability; 2. a page is a page and a visit is another pair of eyeballs; 3. Facebook can't possibly police every page or image pushed up to Facebook.
What's next?
@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/FB-Brand
TARGET SCAM page on Facebook: Please Report this page. (first 20,000 fans get a $500 target)
BEST BUY SCAM page on Facebook: Please Report this page. (first 20,000 fans get a $1,000 best buy)
REPORT this company: superb-rewards.net (but please don't enter any of their contests/rewards programs)
