Scam alert: Argos denies selling Lenovo laptops and Dyson vacuum cleaners for £1 as seen on Facebook

Argos has denied selling its laptops and vacuum cleaners for a discounted price of £1. The fake ad made its rounds on Facebook, selling Lenovo Ideapad 3 laptops and Dyson V15 Absolute vacuum cleaners for just £1 as part of a ‘warehouse clearance’.

The photo of the said ad also shows a hand holding a small piece of paper that looks like a receipt, which includes the word “Argos” and appears to indicate that the buyer purchased a Lenovo Ideapad for £1.

The text in the Facebook post also claims that the discount is due to the company's refusal to maintain warehouses at their own expense after a “collapse in a well-known store”. The post provides a link encouraging people to “Shop now”.

Clicking the link directs users to a website that displays the Argos logo in the top left corner and imitates some elements of the company's website header. The site shows images of laptops and states that people can join the Argos promotion and purchase a laptop for £1 by answering a few questions.

Another post claims that several Dyson V15 Absolute vacuum cleaners are being sold for £1 due to an accident at a UK warehouse that caused damage to the shipping boxes. It includes a photo of a woman in a blue waistcoat standing next to four large boxes with Dyson branding and an image of the vacuum cleaner. Above the boxes is a sign with the word “Argos” in white text on a red background, and a price of £1.

The post includes a link urging viewers to “Order now”. This link also leads to a website that appears to resemble the official Argos site, featuring the company logo in the top left corner along with a search bar and icons similar to those on Argos's website.

The site contains images of the vacuum cleaner and text stating that viewers have “become a member of the Argos promotion and can get the Dyson V15 Absolute for only £1” by answering a few questions.

According to Full Fact, Argos has confirmed that these are not genuine offers, and urged people not to fall victim to such scams. The site says: “Posts offering fake deals are very common on Facebook. We have fact checked them many times before, with recent examples including supposed offers for other brands of laptop, air fryers, mattresses and PlayStations which, despite claims to the contrary, were nothing to do with Argos. 

“It is always worth checking posts sharing offers that seem too good to be true. One way to verify this is to see whether the offer has been shared by the company’s official page—this will often have more followers, a verified blue tick on platforms like Facebook or Instagram and a longer post history.”