£100 Argos gift card offer is not genuine

A post on Facebook has falsely claimed that people who complete an online form will receive a “£100 gift card and a gift bag from Argos”. 

A spokesperson for Argos told Full Fact that “this is not a genuine offer”. 

What does the post say?

The post features an image of a paper bag with “Argos” written on the front, and “Argos. Luz Verde” appearing on its side. 

This appears to be the branding of a Colombian cement company also called Argos. However, there are several signs that this is meant to refer to the UK retailer. 

The text of the post reads: “I just got my £100 gift card and a gift Bag from ARGOS today and i am so grateful[sic]” before encouraging people to “follow the link below to also get your Gift today” and also to “Complete the short 20 second form on the next page, fill in your address to ensure delivery at your doorstep”. 

A link appears twice within the post. It directs to a website with the URL “easy-rewards-argo-1.jimdosite.com”. The landing page features a prominent image—a blue background, with a red oblong that features what appears to be the logo of the UK retailer Argos in white, and the text “gift card”, “£1000”. 

The blue and red colours used in the image appear close to the shades used in Argos’s branding. 

The text under the image says “Your chance to win Argos £1000 gift card and free amazing gifts. If you are an argos loyal customer/user kindly fill the short form and claim your gift today!”. 

There are several clues that this is not a genuine offer. The branding on the paper bag featured in the post does not match the branding of Argos, the UK retailer, and the website it links to is not the official Argos website, despite including “argo” within its URL. 

The amount people will apparently receive also varies between the Facebook post (£100) and the website it connects to (£1000). 

Posts offering deals which are not what they seem are very common on Facebook. We have fact checked them many times before, with recent examples including supposed Argos offers for PlayStation games consoles, mattresses and laptops—none of which, despite claims to the contrary, were anything to do with Argos. 

It is always worth checking posts sharing offers that seem too good to be true. One way to verify this is to see whether the offer has been shared by the company’s official page—this will often have more followers, a verified blue tick on platforms like Facebook or Instagram and a longer post history.

Image courtesy of Mutney.