Irish people warned of 'sinister' free Cadbury Easter basket scam circulating on WhatsApp

Confectionary giant Cadbury has warned its customers of a dangerous scam circulating online, posing as a competition to win a huge Easter hamper.

The scam message is being spread on social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp.

There have been several reports of people receiving messages from their contacts with a link attached to sign up for a "Cadbury FREE Easter Chocolate Basket".

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People have been warned not to follow the link, enter any personal details into the fraudulent site, or share the message with others.

Some of those who almost fell for the sinister scam and took to Facebook to warn others.

One person wrote: "I've had 3 messages in last 5 minutes on Whatsapp promising a free choc hamper. Its a scam please dont fall for it. They wajt u to fill it all in to steal identity. If something normally sounds too good to be true it usually is!"

Another said: "Just a heads up, if anyone gets a WhatsApp message offering free Cadbury Hampers, it's a phishing scam that could potentially cost you money and loss of personal information .

"Don't take the bait!!!"

While a third said: "Apologies for forwarding a post allegedly from Cadbury yesterday offering free chocolate. It's a scam and was used in England a year or so back. As usual, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Cadbury has urged fans not to interact or share personal information through the post.

Other Cadbury hamper scams have also emerged, including a fake page that was set up on Facebook.

The fraudulent page named "Cadbury AU" published a post on Tuesday, claiming that a Cadbury employee named Becky White was running an Easter promotion.

It reads: "Hello everyone, my name is Becky White, and I'm one of the managers at Cadbury Australia! To celebrate Easter this year, EVERYONE who shares and comments by 11pm March 31st will get one of these Cadbury Hampers delivered to their food on April 10th. Limit 1 per person. Enjoy your free chocolate."

Entrants are then encouraged to sign up to an external tracking page and "follow the steps" to "verify" their win.

Cadbury has confirmed that the post has nothing to do with them and asked people not to interact with it.

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