No evidence motorhome ‘giveaway’ is real

A number of identical posts advertising fake campervan giveaways have been shared on Facebook, one of which has been shared over 200,000 times. 

The posts, which are shared from different pages about camping or holiday parks, all use the same pictures showing the exterior and interior of a motorhome. 

The text in the posts says: “Due to having a few small dents and scratches we have been unable to sell this in our showroom, rather than flog it as second hand we have decided to bring some joy by giving it to someone who has Sharred [sic] then commented by April 16th at 5pm. Delivery should be within 2 weeks.” 

This is a popular format for posts driving high levels of engagement on Facebook, and Full Fact has written about fake posts using exactly the same wording in the past. 

There are several indications that all is not what it first seems in these posts. Firstly, the same text is being shared repeatedly to social media by what appear to be different companies. None of the posts make any reference to any other company pages, and all provide exactly the same information. 

Secondly, while the first picture shared in the posts is a real motorhome—which appears to be available for hire in Strabane, Northern Ireland—the Facebook pictures of the motorhome’s interior do not match the pictures on the rental website. 

Thirdly, there is no indication on the rental website that the motorhome belongs to any of the pages advertising it on social media, nor that it has been recently listed for sale or made available in any giveaway. 

Posts like these advertising fake giveaways, often in the form of free meals at popular chain restaurants such as Harvester or extremely cheap deals for items such as air fryers or electric scooters at retailers such as Argos, are extremely common and we have fact checked them many times before.