Southwest Holiday Ticket Giveaway on Facebook: It’s a Scam

If you get an event invite from a friend promising a chance to get two free Southwest tickets, you’re another target of a Facebook hack-and-scam. It works like this:

A friend (or rather, a hacker using your friend’s account) invites you to a promising event: the Southwest Holiday Ticket Giveaway.

If you’re unlucky (like me), that friend is a deal hunter and travel hacker, so it’s entirely possible that he or she stumbled upon an awesome deal you haven’t heard of. And in any case, that friend wouldn’t steer you wrong, so..

You click on the link, finding a realistic-looking promotional flyer:

These guys are good. The Southwest logo is repeated everywhere, with the airline’s trademark “No change fees” slogan. You’re told the promo will expire today, and that the available number of tickets decreases by the second.

You click on another link to “generate your certificate.”

This actually compromises your Facebook account as well, continuing the cycle of spam.

Southwest free ticket scam is nothing new

Every few months, we’ll see another one of these Facebook scams. Why Southwest? Beats me. But on the bright side, you can get one free flight, with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier card:

You’ll get 25,000 Southwest miles after spending $1,000 in the first three months, which equates to $400 in Wanna Get Away fare. And don’t be deterred by the $99 annual fee. You get an anniversary bonus of 6,000 miles, worth $100 in WGA fare and exactly canceling out the fee.