FACT CHECK | 2 Davao supermarkets warn public against fake FB pages offering rewards

MindaNews fact-checked the proliferating posts by fake accounts of two Davao City-based supermarkets, which asked followers to share their post in exchange for rewards. The posts are fake, and appear part of a phishing scam. 

Two fake supermarket Facebook pages are going viral and likely phishing user information using the branding of major supermarket chains NCCC and Gaisano Capital.

Both the fake NCCC https://archive.md/cxt7G and Gaisano Capital https://archive.is/bLMIf pages stole the brand logo and other similar elements from the respective supermarket chains’ official pages.

The fake NCCC post reads:

“Kumusta sa lahat, Para ipagdiwang ang kaarawan ni @NCCC Supermarket. Lahat ng magsusulat ng “Congratulations” sa aming PAGE bago ang Agosto 12, 2024 ay makakatanggap ng mga eksklusibong premyo sa anyo ng mga espesyal na gift bag, telepono, cash at shopping voucher. Good luck!

Mag-click dito upang sumali sa aming bagong kaganapan: https://bit[.]ly/3Ab1Ed4.”

(Hope everyone is well. To celebrate the anniversary of @NCCC Supermarket, those who will comment “Congratulations” in our page before August 12, 2024 will receive exclusive special prizes like gift bag, phone, cash and shopping voucher.

Click here to join our new promotion: https://bit[.]ly/3Ab1Ed4)

The fake NCCC Supermarket post received at least 824 reactions, 2.5K comments, and 2.2k shares as of 11 a.m. Thursday, August 8.

The fraudulent Gaisano Capital page posted an almost similar message:

“Kumusta sa lahat Para ipagdiwang ang kaarawan ni @Gaisano Capital. Lahat ng magsusulat ng “Congratulations” sa aming PAGE bago ang Agosto 10, 2024 ay makakatanggap ng mga eksklusibong premyo sa anyo ng mga espesyal na gift bag, telepono, cash at shopping voucher. Good luck!“

(Hope everyone is well. To celebrate the anniversary of @NCCC Supermarket, those who will comment “Congratulations” in our page before August 10, 2024 will receive exclusive special prizes like gift bag, phone, cash and shopping voucher. Good luck!

It generated at least 856 reactions, 3.9K comments, and 4K shares as of 11 a.m. on August 8. 

The fake posts remain online as of the same time. We found out that the links of the fake pages lead to possible phishing sites, which collect personal data for an undetermined reason.

Gaisano Capital released a statement last Tuesday, August 6, warning against the impostor page.

In a post on August 7, NCCC Supermarket also warned its customers about the fake post.

The NCCC official page post reads:

“MUST READ

We have received reports regarding a circulating NCCC Supermarket account since yesterday, August 6, that has been using our logo without consent and is currently spreading a fake raffle promo.

This is to inform the public that this is the only and official NCCC Supermarket Facebook page and is not related to the said circulating account, and that the use of our trademark and logo without consent is in violation of the Republic Act 8293 or Intellectual Property Code.

We, NCCC Supermarket, along with other NCCC (New City Commercial Corporation) business units and business partners will not be honoring the existing nor any following promos, deals, and offers stated and posted on the said fake NCCC Supermarket account.

Rest assured that our team is doing its utmost efforts in minimizing the spread of the falsification of information that misleads the public just to attract attention. We are also in hopes that we can encourage our sulit shoppers to fact-check and be wary of scammers, online fraudsters, and cybercriminals who spread false information and schemes only to clickbait or attract attention.

Daghang salamat po!”

To help netizens determine whether pages are authentic, we have a few tips.

First, visit the About Tab of the suspicious Facebook page and determine the following:

– Follower count (low counts are always suspicious accounts);

– And creation date. To determine this, visit the Transparency portion under the About Tab to see when a page was created. Recently created pages with low follower counts are likely fraudulent accounts.

Also, be careful about clicking unknown links, especially the ones that promise financial rewards online.

As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)