It’s been said time and time again to avoid clicking on suspicious advertisements online, even if those ads appear on legit websites. However, nowadays, many of these fake ads appear so real that they’ve managed to fool anyone who come across them.
Before things got out of hand, Sunway Pyramid took to Facebook to warn others of fake accounts that have been using their name to “promote discounts” of certain products at the mall.
Yesterday (Monday, 18th September), Sunway Pyramid released a statement on their official Facebook page to address the suspicious accounts and advertisements that have been circulating online, particularly Facebook. As seen in the photos above, the suspicious ads appeared to be “sponsored” and some of these accounts posed as famous local celebrities such as Dato Lee Chong Wei (李宗偉) and Dato Siti Nurhaliza to “promote discounted products” that were said to be sold at Sunway Pyramid.
The mall clarified that these accounts and advertisements were fake and even provided an official link to their online store. “Lion would like to address that these FB pages have NO ASSOCIATION with Sunway Pyramid and are FALSE. If you have encountered these pages, please report or contact us for clarification. Your help in reporting would make this online community, a safer place for all!” they wrote.
Sadly, this has happened multiple times before as the shopping centre previously addressed similar scam and fake accounts issues earlier this year. The only difference between now and then was that the accounts back then did not pose as celebrities in order to lure more victims.
Lee Chong Wei even recently addressed one of the fake accounts that was used to promote certain tech products. “Please do not fall for any account that’s not been verified. My team and I will take legal action for any misuse of my image,” he said. He even urged his fans to help report the fake accounts they encounter online.
At the time of writing, there have been no reports of anyone falling victim to these scams but thankfully, most if not all the accounts have been removed after being reported. It is also unknown if any police reports were filed by Sunway Pyramid and the legendary athlete but let’s take this as a reminder to always check the verified accounts for the legitimacy of these ads.
