Facebook Scam Exploits News of Missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501Outline Facebook message claims missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has been found in Tacloban, Philippines. The message includes a teaser image of a crashed AirAsia jet and invites you to click a 'Play' button to view 'breaking news' footage. The post claims to be from news outlet CNN.
*Please do not click Play button.* If you click the 'play' button on the bogus message, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that is designed to emulate a CNN news web page. The page appears to host a video that supposedly contains footage of the plane's discovery. However, a popup on the page will claim that you must like and share the video on Facebook before you can view the footage. But, after you like and share as instructed, another popup will claim that you must complete a survey to see the full video (see screenshot below). The survey links open dodgy third-party websites that ask for your mobile phone number and other personal details, ostensibly to allow you to go in the draw for various prizes. But, alas, by providing your mobile number, you are actually signing up for an ongoing and very expensive SMS service that will charge you several dollars for every text message they send. And, because you provided your name and contact details, you may find that you begin receiving unwelcome and annoying marketing phone calls. Meanwhile, the scammers who created the fake news post will earn commissions via dodgy affiliate marketing programs every time someone provides their information in a survey. During the course of the scam, you may also be asked to download a 'video plugin update'. This supposed plugin may contain adware that can hijack your browser. Beware of Further Scam Posts about Flight QZ8501 -- With best wishes S Chander -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
