The social network "Vkontakte" was filled with groups "I'll give it away". They have both a global reach and a local one: by city or region. In large cities, several dozens and even hundreds of such groups coexist at once. If you drive into the search on the social network “I will give it away for free”, then about 34,936 groups will come out. There are more than 350 of them in Moscow at the moment. And every day there are more and more of them. But are these groups real help and charity or a scam?
Reasons for the popularity of the "I'll give away" groups
Why are these bands so popular? Based on the feedback on the “I will give away for free” communities, several conclusions can be drawn about this:
- People love freebies. They love it when you don’t have to pay for things, but you can get them as a gift. Often these people are able to earn money for such things, but they prefer to sit in groups and look for worthwhile things for free.
- Some are trying to cash in on this. Taking a thing as a gift, they resell it already for money. They "work" in several groups at once, monitor expensive things. They are taken from donors and resold at various Vkontakte flea markets. “I will give for free” are trying to fight such participants, and the administrators of the “I will give for free” groups block many accounts, but they appear again.
- There are really needy people who need help: the poor, large families, victims of fire, etc. But as practice shows, they are a minority.
What is the difference between all the “I will give for free” groups
- A real group that really gives things away.
- A group that is trying to wind up members and subscribers in this way.
- A group that tries to scam money from gullible citizens.
Real bands
There are enough real groups on the net. Usually in such groups they donate unnecessary inexpensive things. Donors can ask for a piece of chocolate, Kinder Surprise or other sweets. There are as many ads “I will give for a chocolate bar” as there are “I will give it for free”. The really worthwhile things are rare there. And they figure it out quickly. Some people spend days in such groups andtrying to grab the good things for themselves.
As they say in the reviews about the “I will give away for free” group on Vkontakte, often things are taken by the fastest, and not the one who really needs them.
The following is also noted in the reviews:
- Things are taken away by non-poor people who are able to buy it all themselves.
- Often, the donor receives such messages: “Bring, bring me your gift, then I will take it. I don't have time to come myself.”
- The giver of expensive things "PM" is bombarded with a huge number of messages with requests, and sometimes demands to give the thing to him.
As you can see from the reviews, even real groups are not as good as they might seem at first glance. Unnecessary things can always be attached not via the Internet. Give, for example, to a shelter or poor citizens. Then the thing will really bring joy to someone.
Groups that try to cheat members
To develop their group and increase the number of subscribers, group administrators can make posts about donating expensive things. People subscribe, repost, like, thereby increasing the reach of subscribers.
Usually the text of the post is as follows: “I will give away the phone for free. I will choose the winner from among those who reposted the entry before 15.02. But no one chooses a winner on February 15 or February 16, this is done only for more reposts.
Why do you need to cheat subscribers? If the group has many members, admins can get paid for advertising on the group page and thus earnmoney.
Another option is possible, in which the authors of the posts themselves "PR" at the expense of such groups. Such ads encourage a person to go to the page. This increases attendance.
In reviews of the "I'll give away" groups, people note that such communities are often blocked. Especially when they change their activities drastically.
Participants who repost, put likes, do not lose anything, but do not gain anything either. The worst thing that can happen in this case is advertising on their page of scammers and scam groups.
Fraud groups
In such groups, everything starts, as in the previous case. An announcement is made about an expensive gift - a phone, a computer, etc. On a certain day, the giver chooses the winners.
Scammers choose several people at once or all reposters as winners. And they send them messages in which they say that the thing will be sent by mail or delivered by courier. But before that, you need to pay for the services of mail and courier. The donor sends an account to which the money needs to be credited. He refuses cash on delivery, giving many reasons. After payment, of course, no one sends a gift, the so-called donor blocks all winners or is removed from the social network.
In the reviews of the group “I will give for free” on Vkontakte, some users write that law enforcement agencies tried to intimidate them. This happens as follows: if you refuse to pay for shipping or temporarily notmoney for this, the donor still allegedly sends a parcel, of which he notifies the recipient. And asks to send all the same put money. If the person refuses to pay again, then threats begin.
Of course, the cost of shipping an expensive item is small, but this is only within the framework of one person. And if 100–200 people transfer money at once, how many rubles will the swindler get rich without doing anything? Such ads appear in real groups, but administrators are trying to immediately respond and remove clearly fraudulent posts.
How not to fall into the hands of scammers
How to distinguish real groups from fraudulent ones:
- From the reviews of the "VKontakte" groups "Give away for free" it becomes clear that most fake communities use already published photos of things from the Internet. It is very easy to check this by uploading a photo to Google Images. The search engine will immediately return similar images.
- Dear, new things (computers, phones, other equipment, bicycles, etc.) are rarely given away for nothing. The vast majority of people are trying to sell such things, even for little money. Or give, give to your friends or relatives. Few people with good intentions will go to these groups to give expensive things to just anyone. In today's economic situation, it's hard to imagine that someone would give an expensive item to a stranger for free.
- If they offer to pay even a little money for delivery compared to a gift, then this is 99.9% scammers. If donors do not want to engagedelivery issues, they can place an ad in the groups of their city and give it personally. If sending a thing is not difficult, then you can use cash on delivery.
- Publications by template. If all the ads in the group are the same, there are no personal inserts of the authors, then most likely it is a fake group.
Signs of fraudulent posts
There are several signs that lead to this conclusion:
- Secrecy of the author of the post. In real groups, gift givers don't hide themselves. Under each post you can see who wrote it.
- Closed comments, as well as private information about group administrators. In reviews of "I'll give it away" in VK, people often write that in real groups, comments are always open. Everyone can write, share the joy of their acquisition. Admins do not hide themselves. Everything is quite open and simple.
- If the name and surname of the donor is open, you can drive it in a search engine or in the Vkontakte network itself, perhaps he has already tried to commit fraud somewhere.
In conclusion
What to do if you see in your news feed the post “Giving a new iPhone as a gift”? Scroll further or block such ads? No one in their right mind would give expensive gifts to complete strangers, and certainly not in a public social network. This is evidenced by the huge number of negative reviews about the “I will give for free” groups on Vkontakte.
No need to wait for a miracle from the "I'll give away for nothing" groups. If there andreal things are given, they are usually either cheap, or old, or worn. Children's things, toys, etc. are often given away.
