It is a disgusting reality that when tragedy strikes, there’s always going to be someone out there trying to take advantage of it for personal gain. That’s what’s happening in the wake of downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was reportedly shot down over Ukraine Thursday on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 were killed.
And now there have been reports of scammy Facebook pages set up using the names of those victims, that are instead spreading malware to steal personal info, as well as others directing people to sex sites, online gambling and other spam using false headlines, according to Australian SCAMWatch, an effort run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, via USA Today.
An example fake link headline reads: “Video camera caught the moment plane MH17 crash over Ukraine.Watch here the video of crash.”
Those kinds of headlines aren’t leading to any more information, but rather to porn sites, get-rich-quick schemes or businesses selling counterfeit drugs.
There have also been fake charity sites popping up across the Internet, purporting to be collecting money for victims’ families linked to the crash.
“If you hand over money to the ‘charity’ or ‘fundraiser’ your money will go straight into the pockets of a scammer and the victims will never receive a cent,” the ACCC says.
Scams create phony Malaysia crash-victim tribute sites [USA Today]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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