Hungry customers attempting to claim free meal deals from pub giant Wetherspoon, that they've seen promoted on social media, are being warned the offers are fake and no attempt should be made to collect one.

Consumer group Which? has this week issued a warning about the free dinner giveaway being shared and circulated online.

The social posts, accompanied by a picture of food or an external image of a Wetherspoons pub, claim that followers are in with a chance of receiving a free Wetherspoon meal should they continue to interact with the offer.

Fraudsters also request potential winners 'like' the bogus post, share it, and also click on an additional link to enter contact details in order to claim.

But Wetherspoons, which has pubs across Kent, closed its social media accounts a number of years ago and both the company and Which? is warning anyone who sees this free meal deal, that the promotion is fake and no such offer will have come from the company.

The Wetherspoon’s website states: ‘Wetherspoon does not use any social media. Any promotions on social media which appear to be from Wetherspoon are, therefore, unofficial and fake – so please do not participate or share your details with such adverts.

"We will continue to report fake pages and do apologise for any inconvenience caused by these unassociated spam accounts.’

Investigators at Which? are pleading pleading with people not to be drawn into entering their personal details in the quest for a cheap dinner.

Alongside significant risks that someone's personal information will then be used by scammers, investigators also warn that the more that people interact and share bogus ads, the greater the risk there is that they'll be pursued with further spam ads and offers from people running the initial pages.

The warning explains: "Signing up to fake competitions and giveaways can lead to tracking cookies being added to your web browser. This can prime Facebook users to be targeted by more spam ads from the people running the pages.

"Users who have interacted with these pages can be caught in a vicious cycle where ‘likes’ inflate the popularity of the page, promoting it so it’s seen by more people."

Wetherspoon's however, does have a tasty offer of its own for customers this Thursday, when it will drop the prices of all its food and drink for Tax Equality Day.

Taking place this Thursday (September 23) at 870 Wetherspoon branches, the cost of all food and drink will be reduced by 7.5 per cent to highlight the benefit of a permanent VAT reduction in the hospitality industry.

To learn more about Tax Equality Day and the deals available at Wetherspoon click here.

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