Lego giveaway scam: fraudsters offer £735 sets for £3 on social media

Scammers are trying to obtain your bank details by offering expensive Lego sets for just £3 in dodgy social media posts.

This ‘offer’ has the classic hallmarks of a giveaway scam, including games where you have to choose the right box to ‘win’, time limits to claim your 'prize' and requesting that you make a small payment.

Here, we explain how this scam works and offer advice on spotting giveaway scams.

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1. A Facebook post claims Lego is offering ‘Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon’, which usually retails at £734.99, for just £3. The account posting the ‘offer’ has just five followers, but you’ll see lots of positive comments from ‘winners’ below the post. 
2. The post prompts you to click on a link to ‘order now’. You’ll be taken to a page containing fake Lego branding and a URL that isn’t affiliated to Lego. You’ll be asked three questions to ‘confirm you are a real person’. 
3. You’ll be told you have to play a mini game and must ‘choose the right gift box’ to win. Bizarrely, this page says you can win a ‘Samsonite suitcase’ rather than a Lego set. 
4. When you play the game, you’ll have three chances to win. The first two boxes you click on will be empty, but when you click a third, you’ll be told you’ve won the Lego set. 
5. You’ll now be asked to fill out a form to claim your Lego set within a set period of time. You’ll be asked to enter your bank details to pay £3. If you do so, you’ll be giving your details away to fraudsters.

A Lego spokesperson told Which?: 'We have been made aware of a fraudulent site claiming to sell Lego products at a discounted price to obtain customers’ personal details. We take this extremely seriously and are currently investigating the issue.

'In the meantime, we recommend consumers be vigilant when making online purchases.'

How to spot giveaway scams

This scam uses a series of common tactics to lure victims. 

• Too good to be true The scammer is offering an item worth hundreds of pounds for just £3.
• Few followers, many comments The scammer's account only has five followers, but its post has dozens of comments.
• Dodgy URL If you click a link, you'll be taken to a website that uses Lego branding but doesn't contain Lego's genuine URL.
• Competitions You're asked to play a mini-game to 'win', giving the illusion you've been specially selected for a prize.
• Time limit The payment page contains a countdown clock in an attempt to make you act quickly.

What to do if you fall victim to a scam

If you've entered your bank details on a dodgy giveaway page, contact your bank immediately to have a block placed on your account and report the scam to Action Fraud. 

You can report the post to Facebook by clicking the three dots in the top corner of the post and selecting 'report post'.