(Credit: Facebook)
As SpaceX offers real discounts for its Starlink service, scammers are exploiting the buzz with fake “lifetime access” offers on Facebook designed to defraud users.
The fake deals are popping up through Facebook ads targeting consumers interested in the satellite internet service. As bait, the ads will pretend to offer the Starlink dish hardware, including the portable Mini dish, with a lifetime access plan for as low as $127.
(Credit: Facebook)Another ad we spotted tries to hook users by claiming SpaceX is offering an “unmissable promotion” for 200 Starlink Mini dish units. “Secure yours with the promotional price and get lifetime access to the world’s fastest internet with a single payment.”
(Credit: Facebook )But don't expect to be forwarded to the real Starlink.com domain, which officially sells the satellite internet system.
Clicking the ads will redirect you to a shady third-party website, like “ministarnt[.]xyz,” "ministarsales[.]shop," or “corelinkus[.]shop,” which will pretend to be a legitimate domain for Starlink or SpaceX. The sites will also offer too-good-to-be-true pricing for Starlink, like $39.99 to receive three Starlink dishes for lifetime access. If you try to buy, the sites will then take you to a checkout page, where credit cards are accepted.
(Credit: PCMag)
Although some consumers have easily deduced that the sites are scams, others were not so lucky. “I paid $150 and bought one a few months ago, nothing came,” wrote one user on Facebook. Consumers in different countries have been warning about the problem since at least May.
(Credit: Facebook)We also easily encountered four variations of the ads on Facebook while using the keyword Starlink in search, suggesting the scheme is quite prevalent on the social networking platform.
SpaceX has been advertising its own Starlink deals on Facebook, YouTube, and X.com. This previously included offering a free standard Starlink dish — but only if users signed up for 12 months, which amounts to $1,440 a year. Otherwise, the standard Starlink dish usually costs $349, and the Mini dish is $499.
Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. As for SpaceX, the company has previously warned users about scammers targeting consumers with fake emails and texts pretending to represent Starlink. The satellite internet service is currently serving over 2 million customers in the US.