Outline
Circulating Facebook message features a teaser image depicting a ‘shocking accident’ in which a rollercoaster carriage and its passengers come loose from the track and fall. The message includes a link that supposedly opens a video showing footage of the accident.
Brief Analysis
The message is a scam. It is an attempt to trick Facebook users into spamming out more of the scam messages via Facebook shares. The purpose of the fake message is to drive traffic to a dubious Brazilian blog. This is just one in a long series of similar ‘shocking video’ scams. If one of these video scam messages comes your way, do not be tempted to click the link that it contains.
Example
[Shocking] Accident on the roller coaster in park tried to be hidden
Detailed Analysis
This Facebook driven message supposedly offers users the chance to view a ‘shocking’ video in which a rollercoaster carriage, along with its helpless passengers, has come loose from the track and is plummeting towards the ground.
The message features a teaser screenshot of the supposed video. Users wishing to see the video can click either the image or a headline link. The message suggests that the theme park tried to hide news of the accident from the public.
However, the claims in the message are untrue. The image is fake and does not depict a real rollercoaster accident. The message is an attempt to trick users into promoting a Brazilian based blog by sharing the same bogus message via Facebook shares.
Those who take the bait and click will be taken to a page that supposedly hosts the accident video. However, when users click the ‘play’ button on the video, they receive the following message:
The world needs to know! Then you need to share the page with other people before you see it.
If users share as requested, they are then redirected to the Brazilian blog. Users do not get to see the promised video, which never existed in the first place. This is a highly unethical method of driving traffic to a website. Any site that users such underhand tactics to promote itself should be treated with suspicion and is best avoided.
A series of similar ‘shocking video’ scams have plagued Facebook in recent months. The fake messages promise users a range of ‘shocking’ or ‘breaking news’ footage, including car and plane accidents, shark attacks, giant snakes and celebrity news. Many of the messages attempt to trick users into installing rogue apps or malicious plugins and participating in survey scams. Some, like this version, are underhand attempts to promote a particular page or service.
Do not help these scammers achieve their goals by clicking their links and sharing their bogus material. If one of these video scam messages comes your way, do not click the links it contains.
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/shocking-accident-roller-coaster-video-site-promotion-scam/