Some other frugal blogs posted a deal this morning for a FREE candle from Salt City Candles. From everything I can find out about this offer – it is a scam – so don’t do it! There are reports that the actual company was called and they never posted such an offer.
Sadly there are lots of companies fishing for data/personal information and Facebook pages are no exception!
Here are some of the ways that I decide if a Facebook offer is legit or not (and why I didn’t post the offer):
- How old is the FB page? Is the page new? Bad sign. They can create a page and add items to the timeline that give the illusion the page has been around awhile. What you’re looking for is a long-lasting dialogue and status updates with real people.
- Is the offer too good to be true? It is a small company (or even large company) offering a high-value item completely free? Then it probably is too good to be true.
- Is the FB page the genuine Facebook page for the company? Anyone can create a Facebook page. Anyone at all. First start on the main company website and find a link to their FB page. Make sure the FB page with the promotion is the genuine FB page.
- Not sure? Find a phone number on the main company website (not the suspicious Facebook page) and call them. Get a confirmation that it’s legit.
- Still not sure? Don’t do it. No freebie is worth giving your info away!
Don’t let “limited time offers” cause you to panic and make a flawed decision!
We all get excited about deals that are only available a short time. Take the time to research and confirm it’s legit. I know it’s easier said then done when there are only a limited number available.
What can you do now?
If you submitted your information on the page for a free candle there isn’t much you can do now (unfortunately). I would recommend making sure your email password is as tricky and secure as Fort Knox. One of my readers who submitted her info after seeing the deal on another site said someone tried to hack her gmail account immediately after she submitted for the offer. Make sure your email has a good combination of numbers, letters and punctuation to keep it hard to hack. Don’t click on emails that pretend to be from your email provider or ask for additional personal information.
Go through and delete your Facebook apps every once in awhile. I did a post back in June about how to delete Facebook apps – the instructions are still very similar (they’ve changed a bit, but it’s pretty intuitive). Go through and delete old apps so they don’t have access to your profile information. Just to be clear – I don’t think this Salt City Candles offer has an app – but deleting your unused apps every once in awhile is a good way to keep your account protected. See my post here
Please know that if your favorite blogger posted this deal – I’m certain they didn’t know if was fraudulent or they wouldn’t have posted. We get thrown so many offers our way and it can be hard to vet them all.
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