Fears over suspected bogus Summer Safari WaterPark 2016 Facebook posts

Plans to bring a water park to cities in Britain this summer appear to be fake.
The photo used to promote Summer Safari WaterPark 2016 is actually from Wild Island Adventure Park in Nevada, USAThe photo used to promote Summer Safari WaterPark 2016 is actually from Wild Island Adventure Park in Nevada, USA
The photo used to promote Summer Safari WaterPark 2016 is actually from Wild Island Adventure Park in Nevada, USA

A series of events that have appeared on Facebook named ‘Summer Safari WaterPark 2016’ bear a striking resemblance to a previous string of fake events that were designed to lure people to spam marketing websites.

The Facebook event postings popped up over the weekend and the one for Durham already has more than 12,000 people interested.

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In March 2016, a series of events titled ‘Total Wipeout Tour’ appeared on Facebook asking people to register for various Facebook events across the UK that would replicate popular TV show Total Wipeout.

However the events simply directed attendees to spam marketing websites, claiming they needed to part with their personal information in order to register for the events.

And this latest batch of Facebook events, all of them titled “Summer Safari WaterPark 2016” then followed by the city name (including Cambridge, Norwich, Bath, Durham and Nottingham) appear identically suspicious.

Just like previous fake events, there are no contact details for the people apparently organising the series of events other than a free web-based Gmail address. There is no phone number, company name, physical address or any other information that could identify the people behind the Facebook events.

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Additionally, the photo used to illustrate the events is from Wild Island Adventure Park in Nevada, USA.

On the Facebook event it states: “We will be secluding off an area to host our outdoor Water Park in your city, so lets Get Wet n Crazy. This Summer 2016.”

It claims those attending will expect water rides, slides, rapids, flumes and a mini-beach.

It also states: “Please note we do NOT request any data information, once we have licensing permission from the councils in every city, locations and exact dates will be disclosed.”

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Detective Jonathan Stoker, a member of Durham Constabulary’s cyber investigation unit, said: “We are aware of the Facebook post and would like to remind the public not to click through sites which aren’t secure.

“The event appears to be genuine and asks users to join a further group in order to keep up to date.
“A similar ploy is used when posting so called ‘viral videos’ on to Facebook, the user will click through to watch the end of the video and cannot be sure of the security or safety of the site.
“This is how viruses get onto people’s machines and devices, therefore we would also like to remind the public to make sure their security software is up to date.

“We can also say that Durham Constabulary have not been made aware of any such planned event within the county.”