The name of the brand has changed, but the scheme remains the same

May 10, 2012 12:31 GMT  ·  By

A few weeks ago we saw how fraudsters were promising to give out Ray-Ban sunglasses to anyone willing to complete an easy survey. Today, the trick seems to be the same, but the brand has been changed to Oakley.

Hoax Slayer has provided a couple of example posts.

“To Celebrate the Summer, We are Giving Away Free Oakleys To All Facebook Users!” reads one variant.

Another one, hastily written, says, “Summer Celebration, We are Giving Away Free Oakley’s To All Facebook Users! Don’t miss out on this next round, get yours now.”

Facebook customers who fall for the trick and click on the links are urged to Like the scam post and share it with their friends, after which they are taken to a classic survey website.

The worrying part is that the scammers don’t settle for the money they earn each time someone completes the survey. In many cases they push malicious pieces of software and even request sensitive information.

Users are advised to be wary, especially when asked to provide phone numbers. While it may seem that no harm can be done, by giving the scam artists the phone number you can find yourself subscribed to all sorts of useless unsolicited phone services that cost a lot of money.

In this particular case, Oakley is aware of the fake posts that make the rounds and they’ve issued a warning to their customers.

“Hey guys, we have had a few complaints about the site below. Trust us you will not get free pairs of Oakley's it's a scam and we are trying to get it taken down. Thanks -freepairofoakleys.blogspot.com,” the firm’s representatives wrote.

The site mentioned by Oakley’s has been removed, but that doesn’t mean that the Internet is a safer place. Most likely, the cybercrooks that run these scams will either make a new site, or simply change the brand name once again.