iPad Giveaways Are (Almost) Always Scams

By Ryan Majeau | Posted October 17th, 2011 in Faronics blogs for

Apple would never use the death of Steve Jobs as a marketing gimmick. This Facebook scam is just wrong. Don’t click!

It first appeared hours after news of Steve Jobs’ death made headlines and is all kinds of disrespectful. I hadn’t seen it myself until today—when not one, but six friends ‘shared’ the link in my news feed.

It’s not shocking since most Facebook scams use current events and hot topics to get you to click them. Things like win a free vacation or see who’s viewing your Facebook profile—they all are enticing offers, but they’re all scams.

This one is titled “In Memory of Steve Jobs, we’re Giving Away 1000 iPad 2’s” followed by a description saying the giveaway is to celebrate Jobs’ life, the scam then asks you to follow 2 steps:

Step 1: You must click the share button:
Step 2: You must enter, ” Thank You Steve ” below! (click “add a comment”)

Seems simple and innocent enough. Very touching too! But it’s not sincere. It’s a scam—don’t click!

Apple’s iPad has been popular bait for online scams ever since it debuted. It’s unfortunate since the iPad is such a great product. Now it’s got a nasty stigma attached to it.

The iPad does make a great gift. If I didn’t already have one I would love to win one! For your own safety though, resist the urge when you see an iPad giveaway ad. You could be giving away more than you think.

Not all iPad giveaways are scams, but since so many of them are you’re best to find some other cool product to use as prize material.