A different ad leads to the same classic survey that promises fabulous prizes

Oct 17, 2011 11:24 GMT  ·  By

Facebook hosts another malicious campaign, this time set up by some folks to allegedly celebrate the birthday of Donald McDonald. In the end it all turns out to be a sloppy scheme that leads to a classic survey page which earns the masterminds affiliate cash.

GFI Labs blog highlights the many mistakes made in this scheme, all pointing out the fact that in the end no one actually gets the $12 (8 EUR) or 500 rupee coupons.

It seems as the Indian currency is involved as the location that hosts the second part of the swindle has an India extension.

So once you click on the link you are taken to a site that resembles very much a legitimate McDonald's webpage. Here you are advised to share and like the hoax, after which, you are redirected to the infamous prize page where you can win all sorts of stuff in exchange for your answers to a few questions.

Until now, more than 1000 people fell for the scam, infecting their Facebook walls with these messages.

As usual, let's take a look at the clues that give away the true identity of the hoax.

First of all, the name of the domain is “macdonalds” instead of “mcdonalds” which clearly is a fake, as the legitimate company would never misspell the name of their business.

Then, Ronald is called Donald, which is actually correct, but only in Japan. So why would an Indian website advertise the name of the hero same as the Japanese.

The next hint that obviously screams forgery is the webpage itself. Even though it looks like an actual McDonald's page (at least the color scheme) none of the buttons work, a closer look revealing that it's made in a real hurry.

Finally, once you see the survey, you should now that something's fishy and even though these polls usually don't cause much harm, they get away with your email address which translates into more spam in your inbox.