Third Center Parcs Longleat scam in as many months
Wiltshire Trading Standards are warning us to watch out.
Last updated 12th Nov 2020
Wiltshire's Center Parcs at Longleat has been targeted by scammers for the third time in three months.
In September, a first Facebook page was set up claiming to offer prize holidays to the resort.
Then in October it happened again, before Wiltshire Trading Standards took to social media on Wednesday (11th November) to make people aware of a new account.
But they've warned that the scam, and others like it, are just aiming to get personal information for you, and there's never a prize at the end of it.
A Center Parcs spokesperson told Greatest Hits Radio:
"Like a lot of well-known brands, our brand name has been used without permission by unauthorised Facebook pages on a number of occasions. We were aware of an unauthorised page on Facebook offering the chance to win a Center Parcs break and can confirm this is not genuine. We have again reported this to Facebook. We would like to remind people not to enter their details or share the page. If ever in doubt about a post, please visit our official Facebook page to check it is genuine."
ADVICE FOR FACEBOOK USERS
The Trading Standards team have said there's a few things to watch out for to make sure you're not potentially giving your information to the wrong people.
Cllr Simon Jacobs, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said:
"We are aware of a page on Facebook claiming to be Center Parcs and offering people the opportunity to win prizes. We can confirm this is not an official page and it is likely scammers are looking to obtain personal data, which could result in identity thieves using this information to commit crimes. Alternatively scam pages are often sold at a later date causing your newsfeed to be filled up with spam. People should not interact with this page or pages like it.
We’d advise people to spend a few minutes looking at these types of pages before liking and sharing posts.
Please look to see when the page was first set up, look at how many posts are on the page, and check whether it has a blue tick to confirm that it's from the business it claims to be. It’s best to follow the old adage of ‘if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is’.”
They've said we should check things like:
- When was the page set up? If it's new, the chances are it's been launched purely for a scam
- How many posts are on the original page? Check that there are other legitimate details on the page.
- Does the page have the blue tick to confirm the profile is the official page of the business it's claiming to be? If it doesn't, it's almost certainly not a genuine post.