What was claimed
Fijians can receive cut-price bus travel via a Facebook promotion.
Our verdict
False. The promotion is a scam.
AAP FACTCHECK - Fijians are being scammed by a fraudulent social media account spruiking cut-price transport.
A post falsely claims Fiji's Land Transport Authority (LTA) is offering smart cards providing free travel.
The LTA, however, has said this is not true and warned social media users about the scam.
In a recent Facebook post, an account calling itself "Fiji public transport" claimed Fijians can get a "smart pass" offering six months of free travel for just $FJD5.13 (about $A3.53).
"Free public transport for Fiji residents!" the caption reads.
"LTA is celebrating its anniversary and in honour of the occasion, is offering a card for 6 months free travel for only 5.13 FJD!"
Social media users are prompted to visit a website supposedly run by the LTA, where they are asked to complete a survey in order to receive the card.
Users in the comments section of the Facebook posts appear to confirm the legitimacy of the promotion.
One account with a profile picture of a woman in a purple dress commented: "Great offer!"
However, the account appears to be fake, with a reverse image search of its profile picture revealing the photo is from a free stock image gallery.
Another account commenting has a profile picture found on an AI image sharing site.
The LTA issued a scam alert on its genuine social media page.
"This offer is false and misleading," it reads.
"There is no such smart pass bus card issued by LTA for that purpose, and no partnership between LTA and any bus operator regarding such a promotion."
The Fijian post appears to be part of a wider scam, with near-identical posts relating to public transport cards in the UK, Canada and even Barbados.
UK-based fact-checker Full Fact debunked posts that claimed to offer a similar travel discount to UK residents.
HOW TO SPOT A SCAM ON FACEBOOK - RED FLAGS
Exercise caution if a Facebook post includes several of these features:
- An urgent appeal to widely share the post
- No provided contact details
- Requests for users to send direct or private messages
- Vague information about the alleged giveaways
- Account posting the content is newly created, lacks a profile picture, has few friends or is not based in the area concerned
- Disabled comments, which prevent warnings or clarifications from other users.
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