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.