Take this survey and win a free iPad! Take this survey and win a never-ending pasta bowl! Take this survey and get Facebook’s Dislike button! Wait, what?
Last week the world's press went bonkers with the notion that Mark Zuckerberg might finally relent and introduce a "Dislike" button on Facebook.
He didn't actually say that, but never let the facts get in the way of a good story
Whenever a new product or service comes out, you can be certain that the scam artists will scurry out of the woodwork. One of their favorite tools are surveys that never deliver on the product they’re promising.
Needless to say, don’t bother clicking on any banner ad or email alert you might see about Facebook’s new Dislike button. The link will likely take you to a page that looks a lot like Facebook, asking you to “activate” this newly introduced feature.
Users have been requesting a "Dislike" button for years, to go with the "Like" button Facebook introduced in 2009. There's clearly a pent-up demand, a factor not lost on enterprising survey scammers. Invites to "early testing" of a Facebook Dislike app have sprung up on social media over recent days.
In reality, no such app is yet available and the offers are a scam, designed to hoodwink people into filling in pointless online surveys or buying into get-rich-quick schemes. Survey scams are a well-worn short con on the internet that, at best, waste surfers' time while yielding nothing in return. Victims are not infrequently tricked into disclosing their mobile numbers through survey scams and are subsequently signed up to premium rate services.
Don't be duped. If you're a Facebook crack-addict then try to resist the urge of falling for the latest scam, and wait for Facebook to properly roll-out new features as and when they choose. Don't worry - when it happens (whatever *it* might be) I'm sure there will be plenty of members of the media writing about it.
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