Scams made by criminals purporting to be affiliated with popular stores, such as Krispy Kreme, Nandos and Footlocker are among the latest to come to the attention of detectives.

It comes after a ‘Footlocker Launceston’ Facebook page was shut down on Friday, after questions were raised by Fairfax Tasmania.

The page stated that the store was to open at the site of the old Office Works building on Wellington Street – which is soon to be occupied by Dan Murphys.

The page called on prospective job seekers to put their resumes forward.

There was even a fake online competition created by those behind the pages, who went as far as announcing the winners on the page last week.

“Facebook have removed this site,” Tasmania Police Detective Sergeant Gen Hickman, of the Serious Organised Crime Unit, said.

“Any person who sent their resume, has provided personal information that may lead to identity theft and should contact IDCare, ph 1300 432 273, who will assist with support processes.”

Police have also advised social media users to be weary of ‘liking’ or ‘sharing’ online competitions.

“These type of supposed giveaways are scams and are known as Facebook Like-Farming Scams,” Detective Sergeant Hickman said.

“There is no competition, no car, house, jewellery or shopping trip. You will notice there is no information about the company posting the competition and when this is about advertising, one would expect publicity.”

Detective Sergeant Hickman said these types of scams are created to boost a fake pages’ profile on social media, so “their counts grow rapidly”,

“After a time, the operators can then launch other tricks such as survey scams or sell the site on the black market,” she said.

“Customers tend to trust well-established sites without doing as much homework about them. Don’t be tempted to participate, because if you do, you will expose your Facebook friends to this or other scams.”

The call for awareness comes after a string of high-profile scams in recent months that have seen Tasmanians duped out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

To report any attempt to scam, email Tasmania Police at Fraud@police.tas.gov.au or call 6172 2781.