Qantas ‘2 Free Tickets to All’ Facebook Giveaway Scam

According to a post currently being shared on Facebook, Australian airline Qantas is giving two free tickets to everyone as a means of celebrating its 70th birthday.

The post features an image that supposedly depicts some of the free tickets.

However, the post has no connection to Qantas and no free flight tickets are being given away.

Instead, it is a typical Facebook survey scam designed to trick you into submitting your personal details on dodgy websites.

If you click on the post, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that asks you to complete a short survey about your previous dealings with Qantas. After you complete the survey, the site will pretend to analyse your answers before declaring you a winner of the free tickets. In reality, every visitor is picked as a “winner” no matter what survey answers they provide.

Next, you will be told that you must like and share the webpage on Facebook and add the comment “Thanks for my tickets”. But, following these steps simply ensures that the scam post is seen by an ever-widening pool of potential victims on Facebook. Essentially, by participating, you are spamming your friends and family on behalf of the scammers who created the fake giveaway.

After you have liked, shared, and commented, the bogus website will “verify” your steps and then present you with a list of links to click. Supposedly, you are required to click one of the links as a means of finalizing your entry and getting your free flight tickets.

But, in fact, the links open scammy websites that promise the chance to win further prizes in exchange for providing your name, email address, home address, and phone numbers.

If you do supply this information, it will be shared with “site sponsors” and third-party marketing companies who will later inundate you with unwanted phone calls, text messages, emails, and letters promoting a range of dodgy products and services.

And, alas, no matter how many links you click and how many times you supply your personal information on one of the linked sites, you will never receive the promised Qantas tickets. The scammers who created the fake post and website never had any tickets to giveaway in the first place.

Scams like this continue to be very common on Facebook and have used the names of not only Qantas but many other airlines around the world.

If one of these fake airline ticket giveaway posts comes your way, do not be tempted to participate.

For the record, Qantas was founded in 1920, so 2019 is not the company’s 70th birthday as claimed in the scam post. And, the photograph depicting the Qantas tickets was stolen from an unrelated website.