Campervan shared in Fb put up not a part of so-called giveaway – Full Truth

A put up on Fb, shared greater than 130,000 occasions, claims that social media customers who share and touch upon it may win a free camper van. 

Alongside a number of footage of a van, the complete put up says: “Due to having a few small dents and scratches we have been unable to sell this in our showroom, rather than flog it as second hand we have decided to bring some joy by giving it to someone who has Sharred [sic] then commented by Jan 11th at 5pm. Delivery should be within 2 weeks.” 

However this van shouldn’t be truly a part of a giveaway. The automobile in query is at the moment on sale by an organization with no affiliation to the ‘Happy Campers’ Fb web page behind the put up.  

Utilizing reverse-image looking, Full Truth traced the first image of the motorhome to a internet web page itemizing the automobile for rent in 2017. 

We contacted Luna Motorhome Rent—the corporate that positioned the itemizing—and have been informed that whereas they’d taken the image, they’d since bought the automobile to a different enterprise, DG Motorhomes, which sells new and used motorhomes. 

A spokesperson for DG Motorhomes confirmed that it does at the moment personal this motorhome, and has listed it on the market, including: “This is the first we have heard of the giveaway and are no way linked to Happy Campers.” 

There are a number of different indications that the giveaway marketed within the put up won’t be because it seems. Firstly, the ‘Happy Campers’ web page behind the put up has replied to most of the feedback with the identical message, which reads: “Your entry is almost complete! You still need to complete the validation process first. To do this simply click the blue Sign Up button located at the top of our page. Thanks and Good Luck.” 

This goes past what’s requested of social media customers within the directions of the put up itself, and the ‘sign up’ button then directs individuals to a webpage encouraging individuals to enter private particulars resembling their full title and date of start. As soon as they achieve this, additional particulars together with residence handle and cell phone quantity are additionally requested. 

This follows a really comparable mannequin to seemingly faux giveaway posts we’ve investigated previously, the place social media customers are inspired to submit intensive private info earlier than being allowed to enter a contest or giveaway, opposite to the easy directions initially given in a Fb put up. 

Different indications that the camper van giveaway is probably not real embody the misspelling of phrases within the social media put up—one thing we’ve seen in quite a lot of comparable posts—and the very fact the ‘Happy Campers’ web page doesn’t seem like affiliated with a selected enterprise. 

Lastly, near-identical wording has beforehand been utilized in different posts made by different pages on social media—some with the identical footage.