Walt Disney World And Disneyland Scams Are Overtaking Facebook — Here Is How To Spot The Fake Pages

The internet is full of scams, hoaxes, and different ways for people to be fooled out of their money and information, and scammers are willing to use anything to get what they want. Being able to win a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland or on a Disney Cruise Line ship would be the ultimate prize, but they aren’t given out as readily as some people think. A number of pages on Facebook are using the “free Disney trip” method to trick people, and unfortunately, it is working.

When looking at Facebook, there are many things shared by different people without so much as a slight thought as to whether they are true or not. Many are legitimate stories and have sources with backing, but there are those with no validity at all.

Such is the case with a number of scam Facebook pages devoted to all things Disney. Numerous pages for one of the top vacation destinations in the world are already online with more popping up every single day, and all they do is prey on people who are simply hoping to take their families on a great trip.

One of the newest Facebook scams going around is from a Facebook page that is claiming to be the official site for Disney Cruise Line. On the page, there is a copyrighted image of a DCL ship with a message supposedly from the company letting people know what they’ll win if they like and share the photo.

“We at ~Disney Cruise~ would like to Celebrate the New Year with our loving fans! So We decided to giveaway Vacation Packages to any of our cruise locations. Which will include all expenses paid for 7 days (ROOM – SUITE & $4,000 SPENDING MONEY) for you and 3 of your friends.”

If you’ve seen that message on numerous Facebook pages, you aren’t mistaken. There are many of these scam pages with the same messages and linking you to different sites that can install viruses, malware, and even get your personal information.

There is another one stating that they’re giving away free trips if they share the video on the page. It is a legit Disney Cruise Line video from the official site, but it was stolen for this scam page.

Many of these pages use the same cover photos, profile pictures, and videos that the official Facebook page for Disney Cruise Line uses. Unfortunately, many of the scam pages use the same practices for other destinations from the “House of Mouse” such as Walt Disney World.

One of the biggest signs that these Facebook pages are scams and not the real things are the way they are titled. Make sure to look at the official pages for Walt Disney World and Disneyland to see how their titles are written. Many times on the scam pages, you’ll see:

• Waltdisney World – There is a space between “Walt” and “Disney.”
• Disney Cruise Lines – There is no “s” on the official company’s name.
• Disney land – There is no space in the name at all.
• Disney Cruise Line., Walt Disney World., Disneyland. – If there is punctuation at the end of the page name, it isn’t the official one.

There are certain things you need to look for when seeing these contests come across your Facebook newsfeed, and they will help you determine if it is legitimate or not.

• Again, check the title of the page and see if it is the actual name of the company.
• Look for the verified blue check mark as all official Disney social media sites have them. The verified gray check mark is not always a clear indicator that it is actually Disney.
• Search for contest rules and read the small/fine print.
• Check out the date the page was founded on and see if it has been a while. If the page was created within the last few days or months, it is a fake.
• Look at the URL of the page and see if there are misspellings, errors, punctuation, or just numbers.

These scams are nothing new, but there are always new ones out there. Consumer Affairs has been reporting on them for years, but they just aren’t stopping.

Facebook is absolutely jam-packed with fake news, false stories, and misleading headlines and articles, but the scams may be the worst. People are so trusting at times and many of them don’t believe that anything with Disney could be bad or wrong, but not everyone can be trusted. If you see a post on Facebook that is offering a free Disney Cruise Line sailing or trip to Walt Disney World, it may be legitimate, but do your checking before entering or sharing.

[Featured Image by Danny Cox]