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Australians are being warned to watch out for a scam circulating on Facebook where “lost luggage” claimed to be filled with belongings is being advertised for $3 a piece.
“We would urge everyone to stay vigilant to social media scams and only trust information from Sydney Airport’s official verified accounts,” a Sydney Airport spokesman said.
Images on a Facebook page claiming to be the airport, which was created on December 2, show bags in a warehouse with signs stating “lost luggage $3” under a Sydney Airport logo.
“The airport has no storage space for lost luggage and is selling consignment suitcases with various items and electronics for just $3,” one post reads.
There are also comments from fake accounts claiming to be happy customers from across the world, even sharing photos of bags packed with belongings.
One account with an Ecuador location claimed to have scored an iPad and AirPods for $3 with free shipping, while another said they got a laptop among other items.
The latter uploaded a picture, which news.com.au traced back to a Japanese blog post from 2019.
Another fake account claiming to be a woman from London shared a photo of a suitcase which had been uploaded to Pinterest in 2021.
Sydney Airport has reported the scammer’s page to Facebook, and encourages others to do the same.
Lost check-in luggage is handled by the airlines, however, if items are left in the terminals and car parks they are handled by Sydney Airport’s lost property team.
What remains unclaimed each year gets donated to local charities or repurposed in Sydney Airport’s Lost Property Auction, which raises money for charity.
Earlier this month, Wellington International Airport in New Zealand had to issue an alert about the same scam.
“We’ve recently seen a huge rise in Facebook pages claiming to be Wellington Airport,” the airport wrote in a Facebook post.
“These scam pages are often very convincing – examples include commenting on our competition posts notifying people they have won our giveaways, and pages claiming to sell lost luggage.”
It warned Kiwis there was only one official Wellington Airport Facebook page with a blue verification tick, that it publishes real competition winners on its website, and that it would never ask for credit card details to claim a prize.
AAP FactCheck found the Facebook posts had used edited images from airports in Germany, England and the US.
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