Travel companies are calling on Facebook to remove fake pages after their brands were used to dupe customers in bogus promotions.
Butlin’s, Thomas Cook and Carnival Cruise Line are among brands whose identities have recently been hijacked by fraudsters to obtain consumers’ personal details in fake promotions, according to Hoax-Slayer, a website that highlights internet scams.
Travel agents have also highlighted recent competitions that purport to offer a Butlin’s holiday as a prize.
Hoax-Slayer, run by Australian Brett Christensen, said: “The ‘Butlins Fans’ Facebook page is just another scam designed to trick you into providing your personal information on suspect websites.”
Thomas Cook has asked Facebook to remove a fake promotion page called
‘Thomas Cook Fans’.
A Cook spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the page and reported it to Facebook at the end of last week to get it removed. Our social media team is also advising customers it is not an official Thomas Cook page.”
Butlin’s is in discussions with social media channels to prevent future scams. A spokeswoman said: “We only ever run competitions and giveaways on our official Butlin’s social media pages or with official partners which, where possible, are verified. Unfortunately, that doesn’t prevent these scam pages appearing, and we are talking to all the social channels to try to stop them in future.”
Carnival Cruise Line stressed the need for social media sites to cooperate with the industry. A spokeswoman said: “We actively monitor social channels and work quickly to call out any fake pages created on Facebook and other sites. We would never ask for the data being requested.
“Unfortunately, until Facebook takes steps to restrict these fake pages before they are even created, there is little a brand can do.”