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CADBURY HAS WARNED people not to interact with a scam claiming to offer a free Easter chocolate basket that has been circulating on messaging platforms and social media.
Images have been posted online by recipients that show a WhatsApp message containing a link claiming to offer a free chocolate treat.
But the chocolate manufacturer has confirmed the offer is not genuine and should not be interacted with, adding in a statement that it was “working to resolve this”.
We’ve been made aware of circulating posts on social media claiming to offer consumers a free Easter Chocolate basket. We can confirm this hasn't been generated by us & we urge consumers not to interact. Your security is our priority & we’re currently working to resolve this.
— Cadbury UK (@CadburyUK) March 31, 2022
“We’ve been made aware of circulating posts on social media claiming to offer consumers a free Easter Chocolate basket,” the company said in a statement posted to Twitter.
“We can confirm this hasn’t been generated by us & we urge consumers not to interact. Your security is our priority & we’re currently working to resolve this.”
The message appears to be a type of phishing scam, where criminals create messages that look genuine in order to trick consumers into clicking a link to a bogus website where viruses could be installed on their device, or having them hand over personal information which can be used to gain access to financial information or online bank accounts.
While there are instances of the scam circulating in Ireland, Gardaí said they yet have to received any complaints.
Merseyside Police in the UK issued a public warning about the scam, urging people to avoid clicking on the link contained in the message as it was an attempt to “gain access to your personal details”.
With reporting by Eoghan Dalton
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I don’t understand how people can be gullible enough to share this stuff. All you have to do is read the link and it’s sticking out a mile. Anything with bit.ly or tinyurl are nearly always bogie. Use your noggin folks.
@Terry Fagan VO: And that makes total sense to those of us that understand how urls work and where they should point. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there that are not so internet savvy, receive a link from what they deem to be a trusted source and here we are.
@Gavin Conran: Surely everyone knows that if it’s too good to be true then it’s probably not at all so not being internet savvy is not an excuse.
@Ed: exactly, URLs aside people should learn how to recognise a scam. Nothing is going to arrive by text, phone or email out of the blue saying you’ve won something. My father’s in his late 70s and understands this do I’m not sure who exactly falls for this.
@Terry Fagan VO: .ru domain should ring alarm bells straightaway.
@Ed: Clearly everyone doesn’t- if they did then we would have no story here to be commenting on. Unfortunately, people are receiving these links from people they trust so don’t really question it.
@Pat Barry: To those that know what a .ru domain is or means, sure!
@Steve: Not true – ever win a prize drawing in a credit union? :-)
God the one way they could get to me, chocolate…..
This is not an April fool’s joke. I saw the link last night. It’s a Russian domain name.
Just the sort of thing you’d eggspect from Putin! Cue the rest of the egg jokes…
@William Tallon: putins an awful yoke.
@Dearbhla O Reilly: Where did you eggshume that one from? An oldie but a goodie…
@William Tallon:
Putin is trying to Poach Ukraine…..I’ll get me Coat.
Dang it! Was really looking forward to my FREEEASTER Eggs
Cadbury have not ceased trading in Russia
Who wants a chocolate basket that has been circulating on social media?
I’m constantly getting texts to my phone from scams,this week alone,1 was from 3 mobile to say if I topped up by €25 I’d be in for a draw in April,I checked the number and it was a scam,and the 2nd 1 was from the Bank Of Ireland,BOI was the name,and it said my card was been uses in Currys for €139 and was I the user,I’m with the AIB thank God,so I ignored it,but I’ve not checked my balance on line since,incase they had hacked my phone,what I would love to know,is how all these places have my number,when it’s your phone number they have
@Kate Peters: it could be a random number generator that just made up your number, but once you respond once, your number gets bumped up onto a list for people that might be susceptible.
Then you’ll get more and more texts etc until you bite.
It happened to an elderly family member and I had to remove their message center number to switch off texts altogether.
@Kate Peters: Space after comma, please.
@Kate Peters: I just get calls constantly from “Amazon” about upcoming prime charges and to press 1 if I don’t want to be charged. I am guessing it is a machine doing random dialing and by pressing 1 I confirm my number is valid so stored away for future attempts
I wouldn’t eat creme eggs if they paid me so no chance of falling for this scam
@Rui Firmino: If it was a caramel egg would you be tempted?
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE!!!
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