Free coffee from Starbucks and Tim Hortons? No, it's a Facebook scam

As of late things have been somewhat quiet on the Facebook scam front, but today we have seen a resurgence in free voucher scams targeting both Americans and Canadians.

A little more than a day ago a scam appeared purporting to be a free gift card for the famous Canadian coffee and doughnut shop Tim Hortons.

It asks you to like the page and to share it with your Facebook friends thanking Tim Hortons (or Timmies as it's known to some Canadians) for the free coffee.

It would appear scamming Canadians was not enough for the folks behind this scam and within a day they had branched out to include Starbucks fans.

The Starbucks fraud proclaims to be a give away to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Seattle coffee giant.

It's a tried and true formula for con-artists to get your to share their scam with your friends, and then lead you to a website asking you to divulge personal information.

These scams begin with asking you for your email address with some standard legal verbiage about being 18 years old and a resident of -insert country here-. They then proceed to lead you to another form asking you to disclose sensitive personal information.

Unfortunately thousands of Facebook users have been spreading the message, helping these criminals propagate their fraud. Innocent people thinking they might share a great deal with their friends are being used to social engineer those same friends.

Steer clear of these frauds and warn your friends that not even a cup of coffee comes at no cost. While both Starbucks and Tim Hortons may be trustworthy brands and offer occasional specials, be sure to only participate in contests from their own websites or stores.