Thousands of people have shared a Facebook post claiming that social media users who share and comment on it could win a luxury motorhome, online watchdog Full Fact reports.
Alongside more than 30 pictures of the vehicle supposedly involved, the post says: “Due to having a few small dents and scratches we have been unable to sell this Supreme Aire 4051 in our showroom, rather than flog it as second hand we have decided to bring some joy by giving it to someone who has Shared then commented winner will be selected in July Delivery should be within 2 weeks.. [sic]”
But Full Fact warn that there is no evidence to suggest this offer is genuine, and the company selling the pictured motorhome have confirmed the vehicle is not involved in any giveaway.
The post uses near-identical language to other very similar fake giveaways we have checked in the past, and Full Fact has traced the image back to a webpage advertising the vehicle for sale.
The pictures appear to have been taken from the website for Sport Truck RV, a recreational vehicle dealership with locations in Arizona and California in the US.
The motorhome is still listed for sale on the website, for $559,000 (£432,556).
A spokesperson for Sport Truck RV said: “Sport truck RV is NOT involved in any promotional giveaways, and we often find our inventory vehicles posted to various web sites and social media accounts in various forms of scams.
“This is not uncommon.”
There are several other indications that all may not be as it seems.
While the page says social media users only have to comment on and share the post to be entered into the giveaway, the page has replied to a number of comments which instruct the entrant to “send this agent a friend request”, linking to another Facebook profile.
The page, which was set up in February, has grown to more than 18,000 followers.
Another Facebook page going by the same name was found to have advertised a caravan giveaway recently, using almost exactly the same text about dents and scratches.
Despite the alleged competition for this motorhome closing more than a month ago, there is no indication on the Facebook page that anyone won the vehicle.
In a statement, Full Fact said: “While it’s not clear what the motivation behind fake competitions for campervans on social media is, we’ve previously seen these types of posts drive extremely high levels of engagement on Facebook, with some examples shared hundreds of thousands of times.
“Posts like these advertising fake giveaways, often in the form of vouchers for popular attractions such as Alton Towers or Chester Zoo, or extremely cheap deals for items like Playstation 5s at retailers such as Argos, are very common and we have fact checked them many times before.”
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Plenty of scammers on marketplace and eBay. The prices are a big red flag. Motorhomes and campervans nowhere near the market value. If it sounds to good to be true it definitely is on these selling platforms.