Free Laptop Giveaways on Facebook: A Hoax?

Posted on February 24th, 2010. Written by Rico.

Facebook users may have received invites from contacts, asking them to become fan of a page promising a free laptop after completing several steps. You know what they say about what sounds too good to be true, right?

In other words, those Facebook pages that host “laptop giveaways” are a hoax. Here’s an example:

Hi there! I work for an online company and my manager is having me advertise our website on Facebook, so I thought I could strike a deal with all Facebook users that join this group. We have tens of thousands of laptops that we ordered from Hewlett Packard that don’t fit our requirements for UDK development. The problem is that Hewlett Packard won’t let us return these laptops and by selling these laptops we will lose money. I then thought of something great to do with the laptops – give them away free if you have a legitimate reason for wanting a laptop. Please don’t submit “I need to play games” in the form because it probably won’t be approved. This way our website would be advertised and people across the globe that need laptops get what they need.

The problem is that these pages are a clever scheme to lead unsuspecting Facebook users to pages like these, designed to farm personal information. It’s not clear how the people behind these laptop giveaways will use this info, but it’s never a good idea to share even your “casual” email with those you don’t know.

Whatever the case, the “free survey” you have to complete before you can submit your personal info to “get a laptop” apparently doesn’t work for those in the Philippines. Those free laptop giveaway Facebook pages not only lead you to sites designed to collect info; one of the steps to “join” the “promo” involves pasting Javascript on your address bar that automatically invites your contacts to become fans of these pages, without your permission. So don’t bother spreading this hoax around through your Facebook account, because you will definitely not benefit from it at all.