– It is frustrating and annoying that there are people who want to spend their time on this. We are a trustworthy company that has been in the industry for many years. We have customers in both settlements and cities, and it is a shame for the customers if they end up transferring money to these scammers, says Minik Sachse from Arctic Star in Sisimiut.
On March 6, the company became aware of a fake Facebook profile that looked very similar to their own, but where UTVs, trailers and many other goods were sold at extremely favorable prices.
Fake profile created confusion
The fake page has 7,000 followers, while Arctic Star's own page has 3,800 followers.
“Customers started calling us to ask about the cheap UTVs and trailers they had seen on our Facebook profile, and we were very confused, because it wasn't something we had for sale,” says Minik Sachse.
The method is that the fake profile copies the entire page, including pictures and history, and then they buy a lot of followers. When a customer asks about an item, the communication moves to Messenger, where the customer is encouraged to transfer money for the item via bank transfer.
Urging customers to report it
Minik Sachse immediately reported the fake profile to META, which owns Facebook, and also contacted the banks that were linked to the account numbers that the fake Facebook profile provided when customers had asked about various products.
– We have also urged all customers to report it to the police. Unfortunately, there is not much else we can do. We do not know who is behind it. One bank number was in Jyske Bank. Another was for the digital Lunar Bank, says Minik Sachse, who is sorry if customers end up being scammed.
– Many here in Greenland, for example in the settlements, are used to transferring money by bank transfer, and are not necessarily aware that it is a fake profile. They see a good offer and take advantage. This is what can happen, so it is very important that we draw attention to the fake profiles, says Minik Sachse, who encourages customers to be especially careful if an offer sounds too good to be true. He also says that Arctic Star always communicates with their customers via phone or email, and that they will never ask customers to transfer to an account number via Messenger.
Similar case in Autonord
Previously, here in Sermitsiaq we have told about Autonord in Nuuk, which back in January similarly discovered a fake Facebook profile that under the name Autonord ApS advertised lots of great deals based on photos borrowed from other car dealers.
Director of Autonord Bo Eder-Jensen reacted like Arctic Star by trying to make customers aware of the scam and encouraging everyone to report the fake profile to META, and to the police if they had been scammed. Today, the fake Autonord profile is no longer available.
The police are urging that you should always report attempted fraud.
