“Win Free iPhone 6” scams hit Facebook

As the day of the release of Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus draws near, scammers have expectedly begun using the new devices as a lure in Facebook scams.

As usual, the offer is a free iPhone – you only have to go through “three easy steps” to get a chance to win the device: like the Facebook page created to propagate the scam, share it with your Facebook friends, and download a “participation application.”

But before this last step can be made, the page will force you to complete a survey in order to continue. Depending on the survey, you are also asked to share your name, address, phone number and email – information that is collected by the third-party operating the survey page, and likely sold on to marketers.

“Meanwhile, the scammer who created the fake promotion will earn a commission via a suspect affiliate marketing scheme each time you fill in a survey and provide your details,” Hoax-Slayer pointed out.

“And, each time you return to the download page, the pop-up will inform you that the survey was not completed properly or there was a ‘small error’. You will be urged to participate in yet another survey. But, no matter how many surveys you complete, you will still not get to download your ‘application’.”

This particular scam page has been removed by Facebook, but not before getting nearly 18,000 “likes”. Given the popularity of Apple’s smartphone, it’s safe to say that similar schemes will periodically pop up in the next months and even beyond. I have found – and reported – a few of them already.