What was claimed
Tesco is giving away free boxes of “essential groceries” worth £40 to Facebook users.
Our verdict
False. This is not a genuine offer from Tesco.
Facebook posts promoting free food boxes from Tesco aren’t genuine
Posts on social media have falsely claimed the supermarket Tesco is giving away free food boxes worth £40.
Tesco confirmed to Full Fact that these are not genuine offers.
The posts claim to be written by “Paul Madden, a manager at Tesco” and say people can receive a “free box of essential groceries” (one of which supposedly has a £200 voucher “randomly hidden” inside it). The posts include an image of a man holding a box of groceries next to a sign reading “Everyone who says ‘Box’ gets a FREE Food box [sic]”.
One post encourages Facebook users to click a link and provide some personal details to “claim the prize”. But this link isn’t to the real Tesco website—the URL is different, and the layout doesn’t resemble that of Tesco’s actual site.
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Posts offering fake deals are very common on Facebook. We’ve previously fact checked a number of supposed Tesco offers, as well as other posts promoting improbably cheap deals from various retailers, which in fact had nothing to do with the named companies.
It’s always worth checking posts sharing offers that seem too good to be true. One way to verify them is to see whether the offer has been shared by the company’s official social media page—this will often have more followers, a verified blue tick on platforms like Facebook or Instagram and a longer post history. Do not share your personal or financial information online without making sure the site is authentic.