A copycat scammer has targeted a local business by copying its Facebook page and creating a website in which it asks for a persons bank details.
The business that had been targeted this time is holiday cottage letting company, Island Escapes.
Island Escapes is running a competition on Facebook that was then hijacked by the scammers who posed as Island Escapes:
This is not the first time that scams like these have taken place on local business pages, the Isle of Man Creamery have also had this happen – I know this as I was nearly scammed into thinking I’d won a lifetimes supply of cheese, sadly not.
Copycat scammer
The scammer commented on individuals comments from the fake page informing them they’d won a prize.
It then directed them to another page in which they then had to enter bank details to ‘claim the prize’.
Since being brought to Island Escapes attention, the company has contacted the police to hopefully stop this from happening again.
Island Escapes has released a statement on its Facebook page:
The local business is still running its competition (which you won’t get scammed by), but its a reminder to all of those who are targeted by scammers to not give out any bank details.
Island Escapes has reiterated that it “will never ask for bank or card details as part of a competition. As the competition clearly states, a winner will be drawn at random and contacted”.
Adding: “We will require no financial details from the winner in this regard whatsoever. The police advise if anyone has fallen victim to a scam such as this please contact your bank and speak to the fraud team.”
The scammer site that individuals have been directed to is www.island-escapes.myfreesites.net (no link for pretty obvious reasons) which Island Escapes have reported through the Action fraud website.
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