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MTN giveaway for students? Don't fall for this Facebook scam

A Facebook page called “MTN Lockdown Dash Out - Roma” is advertising phone, car and laptop giveaways for students. 

“MTN is here to support the First 5,000 students because of this pandemic period,” one post reads. It shows photos of cars and an MTN store. 

MTN is a large mobile telecoms company that operates in several African, European and Asian countries. But is it giving away products to help students through the Covid-19 pandemic



No link to official MTN social media or website


Facebook transparency records show the page was created in June 2018, and has changed its name a number of times over the years. The page has only posted twice, both times to advertise laptop, phone and car giveaways. 

To win, Facebook users are asked to comment on the post with the letters “MTN”. 

This is an example of engagement bait – posts that ask people to interact by liking, commenting on or sharing. The more people do this, the greater the Facebook page’s reach.

Some genuine competitions will ask Facebook users to like and share. But strange requests to comment are an immediate red flag. The poor writing, spelling and grammar of the posts are also cause for suspicion

And there are no links to any of MTN’s official social media accounts or websites in the posts or the page.  

Africa Check has previously investigated several Facebook pages, all claiming to be giving away various MTN products, and found all of them to be scams. You can add this page to the list. – Africa Check




 

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