Social media users could win a luxury motorhome in exchange for sharing and liking a Facebook post.
There is no evidence this is a genuine giveaway. It is still listed for sale for more than $500,000 by a dealership in the US, and the dealership has confirmed it is not involved in any online competition The post is very similar to other fake giveaways we have checked in the past.
Thousands of people have shared a Facebook post claiming that social media users who share and comment on it could win a luxury motorhome.
Alongside more than 30 pictures of the vehicle supposedly involved, the post says: “Due to having a few small dents and scratches we have been unable to sell this Supreme Aire 4051 in our showroom, rather than flog it as second hand we have decided to bring some joy by giving it to someone who has Shared then commented winner will be selected in July Delivery should be within 2 weeks.. [sic]”
But there is no evidence to suggest this offer is genuine, and the company selling the pictured motorhome have confirmed the vehicle is not involved in any giveaway.
The post uses near-identical language to other very similar fake giveaways we have checked in the past, and Full Fact has traced the image back to a webpage advertising the vehicle for sale.
The pictures appear to have been taken from the website for Sport Truck RV, a recreational vehicle dealership with locations in Arizona and California in the US. The motorhome is still listed for sale on the website, for $559,000 (£432,556).
A spokesperson for Sport Truck RV told Full Fact: “Sport truck RV is NOT involved in any promotional giveaways, and we often find our inventory vehicles posted to various web sites and social media accounts in various forms of scams. This is not uncommon.”
There are several other indications that all may not be as it seems. Firstly, while the page says social media users only have to comment on and share the post to be entered into the giveaway, the page has replied to a number of comments which instruct the entrant to “send this agent a friend request”, linking to another Facebook profile.
This page now appears to have been deleted.
Secondly the page, which was set up in February, appears to have advertised another motorhome, using almost exactly the same text about dents and scratches as the giveaway post. Despite the alleged competition for this motorhome closing more than a month ago, there is no indication on the Facebook page that anyone won the vehicle.
While it’s not clear what the motivation behind fake competitions for campervans on social media is, we’ve previously seen these types of posts drive extremely high levels of engagement on Facebook, with some examples shared hundreds of thousands of times.
Posts like these advertising fake giveaways, often in the form of vouchers for popular attractions such as Alton Towers or Chester Zoo, or extremely cheap deals for items like Playstation 5s at retailers such as Argos, are very common and we have fact checked them many times before.
|
Image courtesy of Matthew LeJune |
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 the US dealership selling the motorhome has confirmed that the vehicle is not involved in any competition and the post bears many similarities to fake giveaways we have checked in the past.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.