Not So Fresh: $100 Subway Gift Card Scam on Facebook

A new scam is circulating on Facebook, hoping to sucker you into divulging personal information and completing multiple “reward offers” in hopes of snagging a “free” $100 gift card to Subway.

The scam starts out with a message similar to the one below:

Free $100 Subway Cards! (limited time only)
subway12.s3-website-us-west-1.amazonaws.com

Hey everyone! Make sure you get your Subway gift card! This is only for today and tomorrow!

The link leads you to a page that claims that free $100 Subway cards are being given away to all {800 million) Facebook users and there’s a two-step process in order to claim yours – post the offer to your profile and click the word ‘Like’.

Seems simple enough, right? Unfortunately, that’s only the beginning...

Once you’ve exposed everyone on your friends list to the scam, you’ll be redirected to a completely different website – subway.thegiftcarddeal.com – that reveals the true focus of the offer in the fine print:

• Collect as much of your personal information as possible


• Get you to complete a total of 13 “reward offers”, and


• Refer 3 of your friends to fall for the same scam.

Are those "reward offers" worth completing in exchange for a $100 Subway gift card?

“Various types of reward offers are available. Completion of reward offers most often requires a purchase or filing a credit application and being accepted for a financial product such as a credit card or consumer loan.”

I think not! You might as well take the money you're going to spend on the reward offers and just go straight to Subway.

Scammers often advertise “free offers” on Facebook as they get a chunk of change for driving traffic to these affiliate sites and getting users to sign-up.

If you catch the $100 Subway gift card offer on Facebook, be sure to avoid it and warn your friends to do the same.

If you’ve already fallen for the scam, be sure to remove all posts on Facebook that link to this special offer and keep a watchful eye out for future scam campaigns that may arrive via snail mail, e-mail or even text. If you supplied your mobile number, you may want to monitor your cellphone bill for suspicious charges as cyber crooks have been known to sign-up victims of these scams for expensive SMS subscription services.

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