Kind of amazing people are still falling for social media Like-Farming scams in 2020.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

"Like Farming" is a scam where someone will create a page and ask people to "like" it or to follow it.

Sometimes it takes the form of preying on people's emotions. (I.e. "Like this Page if you hate cancer!" )

More often, the scammer will set up a fake, unverified page for a well-known company or product, and then claim to be running a special contest where you are eligible to "win" a special prize just by liking the page and sharing it to your feed.

For the longest time, it was Disney World. ("Like this page and win a free Disney vacation for 4!" )

Others include Southwest Airlines or "contests" for cars or RVs.

And you'll see in the comments thousands of gullible people thinking they are actually enrolled in a contest ("Pick me!" ) when in fact they are just getting scammed.

The "liked" page either attempts to gain access to its followers more private information, or otherwise could change the subject of their page to something nefarious on a drop of a hat.

These type of contests were huge in the years leading up to the 2016 elections.

Then, they seemed to have died down considerably for the longest time. I figured with the focus on devious social media disinformation, people were getting wiser to them and not falling for them.

But in the past few months, I've seen a considerable uptick in the amount of Like-farming scams over social media.

And while I hate to stereotype, the people I know personally falling for these sort of scams overwhelming lean towards the right wing.

Which is just proof positive how easy it is to sell false information to people on the right over social media, and how they won't bother to think twice about what they see, so long as they want to believe it.

[keithbvadu2]

1. Glenn Beck was selling overpriced gold coins as an investment to his old, conservative followers.

Glenn Beck was selling overpriced gold coins as an investment to his old, conservative followers.

An 'investment' that has already lost value/money when you pay for it.

[crimycarny]

2. Beware of "what's your favorite..."

I’ve had friends share posts that pose questions like “what was your first car?” Or “list your favorite <whatever>”. I never have answered, mostly because I just don’t like FB all that much. Then I ran across an article on top ways that hackers get into people’s accounts. One way is to look for answers to questions like this. Often that post your friend is sharing are actually posts created by hackers. The questions posed are often the type of “secret questions” your bank or credit card companies ask you to answer in case you lose your password.

[GopherGal]

3. I've wondered about the "What's your _____ Name?" ones

Stripper Name, Hobbit Name, what-have you.
They may use your birth month/day, the name of your first pet, the street you grew up on, etc. Often they're the kind of questions that can serve as security questions.

[crimycarny]

4. The recommendation was to give garbage answers to those security questions

It was so simple and obvious—just give whacky answers to the security questions. That thought never occurred to me, duh! “What street did you grow up on?” Answer: yellow brick road. Who was your favorite teacher? “Mr. Gandalf”. etc.

[lagomorph777]

6. My email address: [e-mail]

[lagomorph777]

5. Right-wingers are inherently gullible.

Otherwise they wouldn't have been suckered into the ultimate scam in the first place.

[tanyev]

7. My favorites are the ones that try to shame or threaten you.

1. Cancer is Bad—I bet none of my friends will share this

2. I need to clean up my Friends list. Read this list of instructions I copied from somewhere else and respond exactly as it says if you want to stay on my Friends list.

Paraphrased of course, but I’ve seen versions of both. Oh no! Please don’t unfriend me. Please don’t throw me into that briar patch.