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| - A post on Facebook claims that social media users can get a “big package” of unclaimed electronics from Amazon “for just £3”.
But a spokesperson for Amazon told Full Fact that this was not a genuine offer.
The full post says: “If you live in the UK you can get a big package with electronics for just £3.
“Every year a lot of unclaimed packages accumulate at the warehouses and take up a lot of storage space.
“According to the rules, Amаzon can throw these packages away, but they distribute sorted electronics to USA residents.
“The package can easily contain an Іphone, PІayStation, TV, Airpods and many other useful electronics. [sic]
“To receive your package, you will need to answer a few questions and provide your shipping address by clicking the button below the post or following the link.”
This text appears alongside an image of what appears to be the yard area of a warehouse, filled with large boxes and other plastic-wrapped items. Some of the boxes have yellow stickers on them with Amazon branding and a £3 price tag. The Amazon logo is also visible on the side of the warehouse.
However, it appears that these stickers and the Amazon signage have been digitally added to the photograph.
At least one other Facebook post claims to be making a similar offer in Los Angeles, and uses the same image without the stickers or the signage.
The link that people are encouraged to follow takes you to “a survey to confirm that you're a real person”, with the web page designed to look as though it’s from Amazon. However, some of the buttons on the page do not work and the website address appears to be for an apparently unrelated LED tealight.
When we followed the links we reached a page asking for our personal details. This page did not mention Amazon, but included small print saying that the offer “comes with a 3-day trial to an affiliated subscription service, after which the subscription fee (24.99 GBP every 14 days) will be automatically deducted from your credit card).”
Online claims like these are extremely common, and we have recently written about a very similar fake offer for bundles of electronics from Amazon. Other fake giveaways allegedly affiliated with the retailer are also common online, often appearing in the form of offers on products at a tiny fraction of their original price.
It is always worth checking posts sharing offers that seem too good to be true. One way to verify this is to see if an offer has been shared by an official page—this will often have more followers, a verified blue tick on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, and a longer posting history.
The page that posted this offer was only set up on 28 July and has just 54 followers at the time of writing.
Fake giveaways often contain fake images. You can read our guide to spotting misleading images here.
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