Every now and then, prompted by a notification from a friend or acquaintance, I open Facebook to discover I’m invited to enter a competition for a dream holiday or some such delight.

The latest is a trip for two to the island of Bora Bora, in French Polynesia, complete with return flights and 10 nights in an overwater bungalow.

Bora Bora dreaming, but beware of scams.Credit: iStock

All I have to do is write @highlight in the comments section and yippee! I’ll be in the competition!

A half-awake adult might figure this seems a tad too good to be true.

And yet, perusing the comments section, where dozens of the hopelessly hopeful have typed the required @highlight, I find the names of friends who are intelligent, well-read and well-travelled.

A couple of them are well known to the reading public.

A quick Google of “Bora Bora holiday scam” would have set them to rights.

Problem is, once you’ve set your mind to the belief that you could win a free trip to paradise – or just about anything else enticing – it’s often difficult to adopt rational thinking.

Charlatans have known it forever.

QOSHE - Roll up, roll up, suckers. Have we got a free trip to paradise for you - Tony Wright
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Roll up, roll up, suckers. Have we got a free trip to paradise for you

9 2
15.03.2024

Every now and then, prompted by a notification from a friend or acquaintance, I open Facebook to discover I’m invited to enter a competition for a dream holiday or some such delight.

The latest is a trip for two to the island of Bora Bora, in French Polynesia, complete with return........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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