We all want to believe that there are special coupons out there just waiting to be grabbed, and the newest questionable offer to take hold of Facebook newsfeeds involves the false promise of a coupon that will magically grant you 50% off anything at Target.
As you can see above, folks are sharing a link from a site called grab-coupons.com, with an image of this supposed coupon offering half off your Target purchase through the end of the year with no exceptions and very few qualifications.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. A rep for Target HQ confirms to Consumerist that there is no such coupon and this is a fake.
So why the trickery?
Clicking on the link takes you out of Facebook to a page with instructions on how to “Get Your Target Reward!”
Given the spare design, the fact that it’s not a Target site and that all you supposedly have to do is like something on Facebook, you should be suspicious.
Missing from that second screengrab is a third step — hitting a heavily pixelated “Like” button, which doesn’t actually “like” anything on Facebook, but takes you to… a site where you supposedly get rewarded for taking surveys:
But it’s not as simple as taking a survey. The only way to actually get the Target gift card (which is decidedly not the same as a 50% off coupon), is to complete the “purchase requirement,” which is detailed in microprint below:
So you have to register (10 points), respond to the survey (20 points), review “optional offers” (30 points), and then buy at least one of those special offers, which “usually requires a purchase or entering into a paid subscription program for goods or services.”
And there we have it. All that work to get you to sign up to some sort of subscription service (best of luck trying to cancel it), to maybe receive a gift card from a third-party company you’ve never heard of, for a promotion that Target denies exists.
In short, please stop perpetuating these sketchy sites on Facebook. It annoys your friends who know better and only confuses things for people who think they might be getting a good deal.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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