Bizarre Facebook scam falsely offers Aldi ‘meat boxes’ for under $10 – but simply steals your card details

Malwarebytes warned of Facebook scam targeting users over 40 with fake Aldi meat box deals
Victims are redirected to fake landing pages and games before being asked for personal information and credit card information.
Researchers warn that such messages are designed for phishing and fraud purposes, calling for skepticism of “too good to be true” deals on social media.

Security researchers Malwarebytes have warned of an ongoing Facebook scam attempting to steal personally identifiable information (PII), as well as credit card data, from people aged 40 and over.

In this bizarre scam, a Facebook user (likely a compromised or fake account) claims that people over 40 can get a box of Aldi meat for less than $10, provided they fill out a form and sign up for a service.

“It sounds crazy, but it actually worked,” the post read. “They eliminate excess inventory and, instead of throwing it away, they let people pick it up for next to nothing. All I did was fill out a short form.”

Aldi spoofing

This form, the user claims, took about a minute to complete. They concluded the message by saying that the worst thing that can happen is “you waste a minute.”

But according to Malwarebytes’ Pieter Arntz, people can waste more than just a minute of their time. After clicking on the provided link, the researcher first had their device fingerprinted, after which they were redirected to a spoofed Aldi landing page.

The page displayed a fake gift box game (like the ones often seen on Temu) and after “winning” the game (the page is designed so the victim can’t actually lose), he was redirected again, this time to a page where he was asked to provide more details.

The scammers asked for everything: names, addresses, phone numbers and even credit card information to pay for the box of meat and faster delivery.

“If a post promises a box of premium meat for the price of a sandwich, assume it’s a scam until you can prove otherwise,” Arntz concluded. He also shared a long list of red flags found in the post, as well as a checklist on how to make sure you’re not being scammed on social media.

As with all of these online scams – if it seems to be true, then it probably is – especially with barbecue season approaching in a few weeks.