FACEBOOK USERS are being urged to exercise caution online after a scam involving a competition offering free flights to a variety of far-flung locations was uncovered.
The Irish Mirror is urging social media users to stay vigilant after a page operating under the name "Ryanair Holidays" popped up on Facebook.
It claimed to be offering the chance for users to win two free flights to Bora Bora in French Polynesia and had amassed over a thousand likes.
But everything was not as it seems.
The page was only created on October 4th and, tellingly, was not verified as the official Ryanair Holidays page on Facebook.
However, an official Ryanair spokesperson confirmed to the Irish Mirror that the page is 100% unofficial and in no way affiliated with the airline.
The page also had no user reviews, which is uncommon for a company of this size.
But despite the page claiming to have already run a similar competition, there was no evidence of this prize draw ever taking place.
Worse still, as many as 2,000 users had already entered the draw, liking and sharing the competition post in the hopes of bagging a free holiday.
The page has now been shut down but users would be wise to keep an eye out for similar scams.
The warning comes just months after cyber security experts issued a warning to online shoppers about a sophisticated new type of malware targeting credit and bank card details.
Anyone storing credit card details on either a Google Chrome or Firefox browsers could be in danger of giving hackers access to sensitive personal financial information.
That's according to a fresh warning from IT security experts Proofpoint, who have uncovered what they call the 'Vega Stealer' malware.
With social media and the online world proving an increasingly deceptive place, users are being urged to stay vigilant and never take anything at face value.
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