14 DAY TRIAL // More and more Facebook scams that promise “interesting” videos are surfacing. The latest scam promises a video of a woman falling 220 feet from a roller coaster.
The bogus posts, identified by security expert Graham Cluley, read something like this: “MOST TERRIFYING ACCIDENT EVER!! Woman Falls from 220feet Roller Coaster. Click on the Picture to see the Most Terrifying accident ever!”
The link from these posts doesn’t point to a video, but to a fake Facebook page where victims are instructed to share the message on their own timelines in order to gain access to the content.
Once the post is shared, users are led to shady websites that host surveys and ask for personal information.
By getting unsuspecting Facebook customers to share the bogus messages, the scammers make sure that their potential victims base increases constantly.
The survey sites involved in these scams help the cybercrooks make a lot of money via affiliate marketing networks. The sites that required internauts to enter their phone numbers can also help the scammers make a lot of money. That’s because users are signed up to various premium mobile services that can seriously inflate their phone bills.
If you’re a victim of this scam, remove the post you’ve published on your timeline, and warn your friends about this scheme.
“It’s a shame that Facebook hasn’t been more successful at shutting down scams like this, which have been plaguing the social network for years,” Cluley noted in a blog post.
“It seems the best defence is to clue yourself up about online threats, and make sure that you and your friends are aware of what scams look like so you don’t fall for them yourselves.”