Thousands share fake Facebook cabin giveaway

A claim that people could win a cabin if they share and comment on a Facebook post has been shared thousands of times. But this isn’t a real offer. 

The post says: “Due to having a few small dents and scratches we have been unable to sell this in our showroom, rather than flog it as second hand we have decided to bring some joy by giving it to someone who has Sharred then commented by July 31st at 5pm. Delivery should be within 2 weeks [sic].” 

This text is accompanied by seven pictures of a distinctive lilac cabin with a modern interior. 

This is a real cabin, but it is not involved in any competition. It is currently listed for sale for $94,500 (£73,200). 

Mountain Retreat Realty Experts, the company selling the cabin, told Full Fact that the home remains for sale and is not involved in any competition. 

There are several other indications that the claims in this post are too good to be true. 

First, the text is almost identical to a number of fake giveaways we have checked in the past—with the only differences being the date included and the fact that the giveaway is for a cabin rather than a caravan or luxury motorhome. 

The details about minor faults making it difficult to sell the product in the showroom and the delivery within two weeks remain consistent across these posts, even though they appear to make more sense when applied to a vehicle than to a home. 

Secondly, there is no evidence the page is linked to a legitimate business with a showroom. The giveaway post is the only one available on the Facebook page, which itself was only created on 17 July—the day before the post was shared. 

Thirdly, beyond the request for social media users to comment on and share the post, some of those who commented received replies from a separate Facebook page asking them to “send us a friend request for claiming”. 

This page, called “Camped Winners-List”, has a number of posts claiming to show people winning motorhomes and camper vans. Through reverse-image search we found that at least one of these images had been edited, having apparently been taken from a raffle company based in the UK.  

Other commercial giveaways, often in the form of free meals at popular chain restaurants such as Harvester or Greggs or deals for items like air fryers or electric scooters at retailers such as Argos, are also extremely common and we have fact checked them many times before. 

Posts using misleading images are some of the most common kinds of misinformation we see online, but they can sometimes be hard to spot. It’s always worth checking if a picture shows what the post says it does before you share it—we have written a guide on how to do so here.

Image courtesy of James Garcia