The scam where a fake Facebook page is created, to add fans of a business page and fake a giveaway to get your credit card number has hit more Utica businesses.

Last week, Ziena's Cafe was hit by this scam. Someone made a fake Facebook page pretending to be them, and took advantage of a bunch of people. It's not the first, nor is it the last local business to be hit by this scam. Now, you can add several others to the list.

The Purple Cow Cheesecake Co. announced last Thursday they were impacted by the scam, and then announced Saturday that the scammer was still at large, gathering information from people falling for the scam. A page was created called "ThePurple Cow" and they were sending out messages to the fans of the actual Purple Cow business page saying that they won a free cheesecake. They then follow up with asking for a credit card number.

Here's a tip: if it seems shady, it probably is shady.

If you got sent a friend request from the page, it is suggested for you not only to delete it, but to report the page as well.

HOW TO DETECT IF SOMETHING ONLINE IS A SCAM:

If you've never experienced being scammed online before, there's a few things here that automatically make something like this a giant red flag.

• Typically, if any "giveaways" were to happen, it would be on their reputable business page.
• If you ever "win" anything, there would never be a need for you to enter a credit card number.

Those who fall for giveaways like this put themselves at risk for multiple different things. Snopes says they are "unwittingly help spammers pollute the social network with scams, they may also risk being exposed to malware, clickjacking, or other unpleasantries (such as finding their names and identities endorsing a scam, hate page, or other undesirable activity)."

Do your research before falling for it!