Hoax posts claim South Africa’s SPAR sells electric bicycles at huge discount
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 19, 2023 at 08:40
- 3 min read
- By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa
Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"Announcement by SPAR ! We have confiscated a shipment of Townie Commute Go 5i electric bicycles as Trek did not pay the South African tax. And now, we are giving them away for only R37," reads a Facebook post on April 11, 2023.
The now-deleted post features a picture of three people, two in SPAR-branded vests, posing in front of a warehouse surrounded by Trek boxes.
The warehouse and two boxes have what appear to be signs advertising SPAR’s promotion of bicycles for R37.
The page called "Electric Bicycle" -- which was created only a few weeks ago, according to Facebook's Transparency section -- has published several posts, all of which make similar claims.
"Hurry! Only 124 electric bicycles left!" hypes another post, along with a link for users to follow to arrange delivery.
A series of positive reviews in the comment sections of the posts -- featuring pictures of boxes or bicycles -- appear to legitimise the promotion.
"I have no words, I thought I would have to pay extra - but no)) exactly 37 ZAR (sic)," reads one comment.
However, a closer look at the comments of two posts on the page shows that different users share the exact same pictures as supposed evidence of their successful bicycle deliveries.
A reverse image search of the box seen in two reviews shows the picture was originally published five years ago on March 4, 2018, to the site Bike Forums (archived here).
The forum user "fishboat" posted a photo of the box along with other pictures of a bicycle.
"Just unpacked and cleaned up a bit... tweaking it into riding condition is underway," the caption read.
AFP Fact Check tried to call the phone number provided on the Facebook page but found it was not attributed.
SPAR and Trek
Trek said on its official Facebook page that it was not affiliated with any of the accounts sharing the posts (archived).
"It has come to our attention that there are fake Facebook accounts that are attempting to scam people by selling e-bikes for R37," it said on April 6, 2023. "We want to clarify that these accounts are not affiliated with Trek Bikes South Africa in any way."
SPAR also distanced itself from the posts on April 9, 2023.
"Please be aware of the latest scam where a fake company is pretending to sell electric bikes at SPAR for R37 with Facebook ads," it said in a Facebook post.
The company added that users would be able to verify any promotions or competitions by sending a message to the retailer.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
