Tiny house companies warn of deceitful social media scam

The saying “it’s too good to be true” has proved all to real for hundreds of eager home buyers who have fallen victim to a devious social media scam. 

Baby Boomers in particular have been roped in to believing a few simple clicks of the mouse will land them a tiny house, after seeing a very cunning post published on Facebook. The scam, that has apparently been around for a couple of years in different forms, re-emerged just last week with many people already being trapped into believing they could soon be owners of a new tiny home, and thus handing over their details. 

“You could drive away with a gorgeous home all your own! We’re giving away 10 gorgeous homes with great use of space as Christmas gift,” the post published on page Girlls Lovers reads. 

Paired with photos of beautiful tiny homes, it continues by claiming all social media users have to do to go in the running for the grand prize is like, share and comment “done” on the post. Apparently the winner is meant to be announced on the Facebook page on December 5, and anyone who has followed the steps could be the lucky home owner. 

Thankfully other official Facebook pages for tiny houses have alerted followers to the scam, in hopes that more people don’t become a victim. 

“There are pages that are copying the names of genuine pages and running ‘Tiny House Giveaways’ on them. People think they are legit as they have thousands of likes and shares or people are recognising the page names,” Tiny House Living in NZ wrote on Facebook. 

“They are getting these by stealing photos from real Tiny Homes and creating fake giveaways.”

Tiny Homes Australia posted a similar warning urging people not to share any details with the scammers and to report anything suspicious. 

“Just another notice to let you guys know about the scam Tiny Home giveaway that is going on,” they wrote on Facebook. “The page is called ‘Tiny Homes Australia’ however it is NOT US.

“They are trying to get your details and have succeeded with many people. We have been contacted by some of them having a go at us for all the spam they are receiving.”

The real tiny home companies urged people to be wary of the scam by checking it is real before handing over details. This can be done by searching photos of the home they are claiming to be giving away. In many cases the home giveaway post will be the only thing shared on the fake Facebook page. 

In order to stop the scam from spreading people are also being urged to report the scammers page and notify the people whose photos the scammers have stolen or copied.

Have you seen this scam doing the rounds? Have you ever been duped by a social media scam?