Scammer poses as Riverlink Shopping Centre, Ipswich, on Facebook in bid to steal customers’ bank details
A mother fell victim to theft after being told she had won tickets to the Ipswich Show.
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SCAMMERS targeting local shoppers have been posing as a popular Ipswich shopping complex.
A Facebook profile calling itself Riverlink ShoppingCentre (sic) began contacting customers on the centre's official page and asking them to provide credit card details.
Riverlink Shopping Centre took to social media to confirm the fake account was not related to the business and to warn customers not to provide credit card details.
A spokeswoman for the centre told the Queensland Times Riverlink Shopping Centre Facebook page had made a post giving customers the chance to win tickets to the upcoming Ipswich Show.
To enter, customers were asked to tag three friends and comment something they loved about the Ipswich Show.
A profile posing as the shopping complex began commenting on the thread, telling entrants they had won but needed to provide more details to claim their prize.
"Someone had obviously copied our profile and was sending friend requests and obviously trying to gain financial information from (commenters)," the Riverlink Shopping Centre spokeswoman said.
"We don't send out friend requests and don't ask for personal information."
Customers were quick to notice something awry and alerted the centre, prompting the real page to post a warning to customers.
"From what I can see, this (scam) happened at Redbank yesterday and it happened at Yamanto Central a couple of weeks ago," the spokeswoman said.
"It tends to make you think they're obviously targeting the area at the moment."
At least one shopper is confirmed to have fallen victim and lost money.
Ipswich mother Delenn King received a friend request shortly after her mother tagged her Facebook profile in the post.
"The account told me I was the winner and I was to register - I thought it was cool," Ms King said.
" I clicked a link, put in my details and card details - they said they wouldn't charge my card but needed the details for some reason or other."
Ms King said the linked account only had a couple of dollars in it at the time but, by the time she realised she was talking to a scammer, $1.28 had been deducted from her account.
"I saw comments on the official page claiming all these other people were winners so I snooped on the account that said I won," Ms King said.
"I realised (the account was actually run by) a scammer from Indonesia and had all these personal pictures on the page."
Ms King said she had cancelled her credit card and contacted the bank.
Despite the disappointing news and the monetary loss, Ms King said she would still attend the Ipswich Show with her family.
"It will be my son's first Ipswich Show and I thought it would be pretty cool to have that experience going with free tickets," she said.
Riverlink Shopping Centre said winners would be contacted directly on Thursday.
Read more news by Ebony Graveur.
Originally published as Scammer poses as Riverlink Shopping Centre, Ipswich, on Facebook in bid to steal customers’ bank details
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