THE popularity of Bergerac stems from an era long before it was necessary to look out for online scams… but that didn’t stop fraudsters trying to profit from a social-media competition featuring the TV detective.
Hundreds of Islanders registered interest in winning a pair of tickets to next week’s[tue 25] première of the new Bergerac series in a promotion run by the Grand Jersey Hotel and Spa in St Helier.
The Facebook competition was entirely legitimate, with entrants encouraged to nominate their “plus one” for the red-carpet screening and champagne reception, but it wasn’t long before scammers tried to get a piece of the action.
Many of those who posted to register interest received replies from a fake account, falsely purporting to be from Hand Picked Hotels, parent company of the Grand.
One Islander contacted the JEP to say that they had subsequently received a direct message asking for credit card details, but had stopped interacting at that stage.
The initial messages from the fake account came ahead of the official closing date for the competition, after which the actual winner was contacted by a genuine Hand Picked Hotels employee.
It is understood the attempted fraud was reported to Meta, which owns Facebook, with the States of Jersey Police also being made aware of what had happened.
Jersey Consumer Council chair Carl Walker warned Islanders to remain vigilant in the face of “frightening” attempts at fraud.
He said: “The speed at which fraudsters will try to take advantage of genuine social-media posts is frightening, and Islanders should always ask themselves if this could be a scam before handing over any personal information.
“It is a sad, but necessary, prevention method we must all take nowadays, as even the most genuine-looking advert, article, post or even leaflet has the potential to lead to a scam – if in doubt, don’t engage.”
Following the Cineworld première, the first episode of the new series of Bergerac – commissioned by BBC-owned broadcaster UKTV – will air this Thursday on two channels: U and U&DRAMA.
