Two free Southwest Airlines Tickets? Don't be scammed on Facebook!

Filed Under: Facebook, Social networks, Spam

If they are being given away for free, who wouldn't want two tickets to any destination in the United States?

According to messages spreading across Facebook, Southwest Airlines is offering free tickets in a marketing promotion.

Southwest airlines Facebook scam. SW is currently giving away 2 tickets to any destination within the United States, only to a few select people.

TWO FREE Southwest Airline Tickets
[LINK]

SW is currently giving away 2 tickets to any destination within the United States, only to a few select people.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? So what happens if you click on the link.

Southwest airlines Facebook scam

The webpage you are taken to, tells you that to be eligible for the competition, you have to share the link with your Facebook friends, adding the words

"Southwest is the best"

as a comment.

In my investigation I used a research account, without any Facebook friends to share the link with, and didn't add the phrase "Southwest is the best".

Southwest airlines Facebook scam

It seems that failing to observe the rules did me no harm at all, as I was immediately told I was a "winner". Hmm.

Southwest airlines Facebook scam

Oooh.. an iPad 2 in *color" (fancy that!), a free cruise, or a trip to what looks like a Greek island. You can understand why some Facebook users might believe they have genuinely won a prize, and proceed further helping the scammers earn commission by taking online surveys.

Facebook users are, unfortunately no strangers to scams claiming to offer free airline tickets. Not only have we seen promotions claiming to represent Southwest Airlines before, but also scams regarding free tickets with JetBlue and Delta Air Lines.

Make sure that you keep informed about the latest scams spreading fast across Facebook and other internet attacks. Join the Sophos page on Facebook, where over 100,000 people regularly share information on threats and discuss the latest security news.

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6 Responses to Two free Southwest Airlines Tickets? Don't be scammed on Facebook!

  1. Robert Gracie says:

    I have seen this scam before but how are the people behind it getting away with this scam they should have had their facebook accounts terminated along time ago to stop that scam in its tracks...

  2. matt says:

    Graham, what prize did you take?

  3. Nigel says:

    Graham:

    From the article:

    "You can understand why some Facebook users might believe they have genuinely won a prize, and not proceed further helping the scammers earn commission by taking online surveys."

    "...and NOT proceed further"? How can users help the scammers by not proceeding further? I assume that's a typo, and you meant to say, "...and proceed further".

  4. logicus says:

    Its about time some group brought a class action against face book, over some of the scams that are seen on their pages lets face it they are takeing money for many of these adverts, so must be complicit to an extent to the "scam" Most reputable companies test the market before launching a product with research and that, facebook have the where with all to check up on the links eminating from the adverts on their pages, as well as hit counters to show where pages are being redirected ect (suppose its down to cost) that they dont employ them

  5. Joe says:

    So, does Southwest Airlines have anything to do with this?

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About the author

Graham Cluley has worked in the computer security industry for more than 20 years, developing anti-virus software and doing quite a lot of talking about internet threats. He's won awards for his blogging, but is proudest of the text adventure games he wrote when he was still wearing short trousers. You can learn more about those (the games, not the trousers) at grahamcluley.com. Send Graham an email, subscribe to his updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and App.net, and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.