Chester Zoo is offering a prize giveaway on Facebook for users who comment ‘Happy Birthday’ on a post shared by a page called ‘The Chester Wildlife Park’.
Chester Zoo confirmed the competition and the page sharing it are not genuine.
A Facebook post promoting a fake Chester Zoo giveaway for people who comment ‘happy birthday’ has received more than 5,600 comments. But Chester Zoo has confirmed this is not a real giveaway.
The post has been shared by a page called ‘The Chester Wildlife Park’. It says: “Calling all wildlife enthusiasts and adventure seekers! We're thrilled to announce an exciting giveaway exclusively for our incredible Facebook community! In celebration of our beloved zoo and the unwavering support from our loyal visitors, we're offering a chance to win an unforgettable day at our sanctuary for you and your lucky friends!”
It goes on to list the prizes allegedly on offer, including four free tickets to the zoo, a VIP guide and a lunch for two people. The post shares an image that says you can participate by commenting “Happy Birthday” on the post.
However, this promotion is not genuine.
A spokesperson for Chester Zoo told Full Fact: “We have received hundreds of messages asking if this page and competition is legitimate – it is not.
“We ask anyone who gets a message from the page named ‘The Chester Wildlife Park’ claiming you have won tickets to the zoo or a post talking about this to please report the page immediately and not to enter personal details or financial information.”
As Full Fact has written before, the official Chester Zoo Facebook page has previously issued a public warning about the page and other fake giveaways it has promoted.
While ‘The Chester Wildlife Park’ account has the same display photo as the official Chester Zoo page, there are several clues that the page is not the zoo’s genuine account. As well as having a different name, it does not have a blue tick or a website link and only has 4,400 followers, as opposed to over a million on the official page.
This type of post is extremely common. Full Fact has previously written many fact checks about similar posts advertising fake giveaways, including free meals at popular chain restaurants and cheap deals for items such as air fryers or electric scooters at retailers.
It is always best to check for tell-tale signs that a post may be fake before sharing or engaging with it. This includes the post appearing on a page that may contain spelling errors or be a variation on an official brand name with a short history and few followers.
Image courtesy of Mike Peel
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Chester Zoo confirmed neither the competition or the page sharing it are genuine.
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