Facebook posts claim Australian retailer Harvey Norman is selling Sealy mattresses for a jaw-dropping price of just $5.
This is false. A spokeswoman for Harvey Norman confirmed the posts are not associated with the retailer.
The posts are part of a scam aiming to collect Facebook users’ personal information and bank card details.
The fake mattress sale posts include a photo of mattresses labelled with a large Harvey Norman-branded sign saying: “Mattress Sealy $5”.
Some posts describe the discounted price as a limited-time special offer (archived here), while others say the mattresses are part of a test batch.
But users who click on the links in the posts won’t be rewarded with the cheap mattresses promised.
Instead, the links take them to a suspicious-looking website that asks them to enter their personal information and bank card details.
Some fake posts display comments from people claiming to have already received their mattresses, but their accounts are mostly suspicious and located outside Australia.
A spokesperson for Harvey Norman confirmed that the $5 mattress offer wasn’t real.
“The ‘Mattresses in Stock’ post on Facebook claiming Sealy mattresses are available for sale at $5 is a scam,” they told AAP FactCheck in an email.
Sealy mattresses normally retail on the Harvey Norman website for hundreds of dollars.
AAP FactCheck has previously warned Facebook users about similar scam posts that falsely claim to be selling surplus barbeques and coffee machines for just a few dollars.
An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission representative previously told AAP FactCheck that fake Facebook posts are intended “to elicit money or personal information from you for the purpose of identity theft”.
Scammers are making thousands of Facebook posts like this that encourage people to share them or click on nefarious links.
That means you may be tricked into a scam or advertising a scam to your family and friends on Facebook without realising it.
That’s why it’s vital to know how to spot a potential scam post.
HOW TO SPOT A SCAM POST ON FACEBOOK – THE RED FLAGS
Treat posts appealing for help to find lost or found people or pets, offering extremely cheap or free products and services with caution if they include more than one of the following features:
* The person encourages everyone to share their post widely.
* They don’t provide their contact details or they ask people to send them a DM or PM (direct message or private message).
* The post includes only very vague details about the location of the person or pet, or the giveaway.
* If the account of the person posting is less than a year old, has no profile picture, has very few friends, or isn’t located in the same area as the subject of their post. This indicates their account is fake.
* If you can’t comment on the post because the person has disabled comments. This is done to stop people from warning others that it’s a scam.
The Verdict
The claim that Harvey Norman is selling Sealy mattresses for $5 is false.
The retailer told AAP FactCheck that the posts are not associated with the company.
The posts are a scam aimed at gaining users’ personal information and bank card details.
False – the claim is inaccurate.
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