Beware of this ‘Christmas in Color’ Facebook Scam

Last week, I got a friend request from "Western IdahoFair" on Facebook. It seemed weird to me because I already follow the fair's Facebook page.

But, I also know that Facebook changes it's algorithms and how your business page reaches customers all the time. I accepted the request thinking "maybe having a personal profile page is some new marketing tool for them."

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At first, the page looked legit. It has the same header and profile picture of the actual Western Idaho Fair Facebook page. Their top post was a "giveaway" for tickets to the Christmas in Color drive through light display. It instructed you to click a link, register and get a free gift upon completing registration.

I scrolled past it and immediately got a weird feeling in my stomach. This page was just re-sharing outdated information from the fair's actual page to make it look legitimate. Moments after I put those pieces together, I got this message from the page:

That's when I knew it was a scam. I never clicked the link. I never registered for the tickets. There's no way that I won a $30 ticket by doing absolutely nothing. Plus the broken English was incredibly difficult to read. If you got the same message and thought that it was too good to be true, you're right.

The official Western Idaho Fair page addressed the scam on their profile and confirmed that they will never ask you to follow a link to enter their contests and that the fake profile is in no way associated with the Western Idaho Fair or Expo Idaho. They also offered some helpful tips to protect yourself from "lottery scams" like this one. You can check out those tips HERE. 

BTW, the reviews we've seen from folks who either did legitimately win their way into "Christmas in Color" from an event sponsor or paid for a ticket have been really, really good. If you want to visit it before it's gone, it's open nightly (except on Christmas Day) thru January 2.