By Andrew Martins
Staff Writer
JACKSON – An authentic looking website offering free tickets to the Six Flags Great Adventure theme park is being described by Six Flags executives as an elaborate scam.
“If an offer sounds too good to be true it usually is,” theme park executives wrote on Great Adventure’s Facebook page. “If someone offers you free tickets to ‘refer three friends’ or if you ‘just visit a website,’ it’s a scam and not something sponsored by Six Flags. Be careful.”
Individuals recently alerted park executives about the scam, which starts as an email from an unknown source offering free tickets to Great Adventure.
The email usually includes a link to an official looking Six Flags website on which visitors can complete surveys and earn tickets for free admission. Visitors to the website are instructed to share the website with their Facebook friends in order to redeem the tickets, potentially spreading the scam to other individuals.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, similar scams known as “phishing” are regularly used in an effort to obtain sensitive information from unsuspecting users, including user names, passwords, identifying information and/or credit card numbers.
Six Flags spokeswoman Kristin Siebeneicher said users should only expect to find offers on the Six Flags Facebook and Twitter pages and on the theme park’s website.
“We encourage our guests to use caution and to delete any suspicious emails or offers,” she said.
The 44th season at Six Flags Great Adventure, Route 537, Jackson, begins March 23.