Hundreds of thousands of people may have been duped into giving their personal details away in a data mining scam that claims to be advertising outdoor cinema events around the UK.

Dozens of Facebook pages have popped up in the past few days that advertise events from The Outdoor Cinema, a company claiming to be bringing “some of the biggest films in history to your area in a pop-up open air cinema”.

In just a few days, the events have gained a lot of interest, with around 300,000 people registering their interest in outdoor cinema nights in cities such as Leeds, Newcastle and London.

In total, there are 35 separate events listed on Facebook for the Outdoor Cinema club in places including Bournemouth, Liverpool, Sheffield and Norwich, all due to be held between 5 June and 30 September. However, none of the pages have key information such as a venue, ticket prices, precise dates, the night the events will take place or even what films will be shown.

Despite this, the Outdoor Cinema’s home page continues to request registrations of interest in upcoming events. This involves sharing personal details such as email addresses, dates of birth, home cities and even mobile phone numbers.

Mark Cook, head of digital marketing at Norwich-based company Selsti, found the Facebook events suspicious and discovered a number of questionable details about Outdoor Cinema.

In a blog post Cook said no organisation exists with the registered name Outdoor Cinema Company. Its website is owned by TOC Events Ltd, which has also never been registered and there also appears to be no telephone number for either The Outdoor Cinema or TOC Events Ltd.

Several local councils have not confirmed any official event from a company called the Outdoor Cinema is taking place at any point this summer and no licences for such an event has been issued.

A spokesperson for Leeds Council said: “I have no knowledge of the named company on Facebook having applied for any form of licensing in the Leeds area.

“Neither the events team or our parks service have any knowledge of this company or event.”

TOC Event LTD is also listed to an address in Portsmouth that belongs to KSL Accountants Business Advisors, who confirm they have “nothing to do” with Outdoor Cinema and do not handle their accounts.

Many people have also taken to the Outdoor Cinema’s many Facebook pages to express their concerns that it may be a scam.

IB Times UK is awaiting comment from Outdoor Cinema.

A second outdoor cinema company entitled Moonlight Cinema advertising similar events in cities across the UK also appears to not be legitimate.

Just like Outdoor Cinema, there is also no official company with the name Moonlight Cinema. It currently does not have a website and is only asking for Facebook users to “like” its events pages and tag three friends “you would invite to enjoy” an unspecified cinema experience with.

Despite virtually no information being available, some local news websites still wrote about the claims of an upcoming event with the promise of “more info being released soon”.