A general rule of thumb: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

Season of goodwill or not, the mean, the dishonest and the just-plain-evil are standing around in the wings waiting to take advantage of anybody who isn’t constantly on their guard, particularly on social media.

The latest  Christmas  scam going around on social media comes in the form of a fake competition entitled “Joyeux voyage et meilleurs vœux” (Happy travels and best wishes) ” DO NO OPEN THE LINK

And though Christmas is all about giving (as well as some wise men and  babies in mangers, ) , in general a year’s free unlimited travel is probably a scam – which in this case it is.

This fake competition is supposedly offered by the SNCF. The message, broadcast via  Whatsapp  offers “1,000 lucky people” the chance to win a year’s travel, says Le Parisien.

“This is a scam’ warns the SNCF. We recommend that you do not open the link and do not spread it around you. Thank you for your vigilance,”

The fraudulent message aims to collect your data using a phishing mechanism.