Fake Makro Shopping Mall Announcements Deceive Social Media Users
As social media has become an online marketplace for people to trade goods and services, a viral announcement circulating on social media claims that Macro shopping mall across the region is offering significant rewards to hundreds of its customers on the anniversary of its market entry in the bloc. The announcements have been widely shared […]
As social media has become an online marketplace for people to trade goods and services, a viral announcement circulating on social media claims that Macro shopping mall across the region is offering significant rewards to hundreds of its customers on the anniversary of its market entry in the bloc. The announcements have been widely shared and have received a lot of engagement from Facebook users. However, upon investigation, we found that the above information was false.
SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIM
A Facebook page called Makro-Fans has announced that Macro Cambodia will give away $5,000 in gifts to social media users to mark the anniversary of the retailer's entry into the country's market.
The announcement has been shared over 10,000 times and has received various comments and reactions from Khmer-speaking Facebook users.
Below is a caption from a social media post on June 30, 2024, which reads, “Hello everyone! To celebrate Makro's birthday, anyone who writes "Happy Birthday" on our page before July 5, 2024, can win a free $5,000 gift voucher. We will be giving away 500 bags to 350 lucky people. All winners will be directly contacted by our team. Vouchers are subject to change and can be redeemed at any of our locations.”
We found the same information on other Facebook pages, which had been shared thousands of times and received a lot of comments from social media users.
Below is a caption from a social media post on June 30, 2024, which reads, “Hello everyone! To celebrate Makro's birthday, anyone who writes "Happy Birthday" on our page before July 5, 2024, can win a free $5,000 gift voucher. We will be giving away 500 bags to 350 lucky people. Our team will contact all winners directly. Vouchers are subject to change and can be redeemed at any of our locations.”
Below is an excerpt from the same story shared by Makro Fan on Facebook on July 1, 2024, and reposted numerous times.
Below is a snapshot from a Facebook page post on June 30, 2024, which was also shared by social media users.
The same announcement has been circulating on social media in Burmese over the past few weeks, attracting significant attention from Facebook users who believed it to be true.
Below is a snapshot of a Facebook post in Burmese from about two months ago: “Hello everyone! To celebrate @Makro’s birthday, anyone who writes ‘Happy Birthday’ on our PAGE before July 11, 2024, will receive a chance to win a $5000 gift voucher in one of 500 gift bags. All lucky winners will be contacted directly by the group. Vouchers can be exchanged at all our agencies.”
Another Facebook post in Burmese said the Makro company offers a lot of gifts and rewards for those who comment “Congratulations” to mark the anniversary of the company in Myanmar.
FACT CHECK
Fact Crescendo began examining the claims by seeking confirmation from Macro Cambodia and digital security experts. This led to the discovery of the following facts.
We first visited the official Facebook page of Makro Cambodia and found no advertisements for such cash prizes.
Instead, we found a notice published by Macro Cambodia's official Facebook page stating that the earlier announcement did not originate from the company.
The notice clarified that some similarly named Facebook pages are "fake" and have no affiliation with the company.
Below is the snapshot of the notice posted on the official Facebook page of Makro Cambodia on June 30, 2024, cautioning customers about similar Facebook pages.
The Makro shopping mall Facebook page in Myanmar also dismissed the mentioned ads, stating that the Facebook page, called “Makro Fans,” used the company’s name to deceive people.
Below is an image from the announcement on the Makro Myanmar Facebook page dated November 21, 2023, which states: “The page named ‘Makro Fans’ in the picture below is not the official page of Makro Myanmar and is making false claims about lucky draws. We would like to inform you that only the Makro Myanmar Official page with 248K followers is the legitimate page of Makro Myanmar. Makro Myanmar will not be held responsible for any issues arising from this fake page.”
Online scams have become widespread, and the Ministry of Interior's Anti Cyber Crime Department has cautioned social media users to be aware of any announcements on social media that promise rewards or gifts.
The Interior Ministry's Anti Cyber Crimes Department sent another reminder two years ago about a Facebook page called ABA Bank that announced donations to the first 100 people.
The Anti Cyber Crime Department has stated that posting promotional messages on social media is a strategy to gain likes or mislead users.
In this review process, we discovered that the Facebook page that posted the misleading information required users to share it across various social media platforms after logging into their accounts.
A digital security expert Chum Rasy said the message was a hoax on social media by a Facebook page. This will require and demand social media users to comply with various conditions and finally require the victim to pay any amount of money to process the prize withdrawal.
He indicates that such messages are unsafe and that social media users should not be associated with such messages if he not is well aware of the nature of the deception, saying that there is no reason why gifts should be given without any cost.
According to the digital security expert, scammers use such messages on social media to defraud money from social media users, and victims' personal information to deceive other people who are relatives or friends of the victim. It is also a way for business groups to attract Likes and Shares.
CONCLUSION
Fact Crescendo Cambodia has determined that the rumors about Makro Cambodia offering prizes to celebrate the market's anniversary are false. The company has denied the news, stating that it is misinformation created by a fake Facebook page that is similar to the market's name.
Title:Fake Makro Shopping Mall Announcements Deceive Social Media Users
Written By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
