Facebook Scams & Hoaxes

I was taken aback to see hundreds of our Bhutanese winning iphone in Facebook but I’m clear in my mind that those friends were dejected for having not received the promised prizes so far. Dear, sorry to say that scammers had used iphone as a bait to persuade our Facebook users into liking their pages and sharing their posts. I heard that once they gather a fat number of likes, these scammers put up their pages for sale in black to crooked marketers who might then rebrand the page and promote their products. If I’m not mistaken, the more likes a page has the more money it gets in the black market. If it was not a scam then whose company will go nuts to award eye-catching prizes for nothing more than hundred likes of their pages. On the other hand, authentic promoters will do the math beforehand and they will award economically viable numbers of prize, and shall also provide clear terms and conditions for claiming it.

Again, one more major hoax that hunts our Bhutanese Facebook users is circulation of pornographic videos to their friends and relatives without their knowledge. Our innocent users might have tried to play the footage during which the spambot automatically sends the hoax video link to user’s friends and thereby boosting traffic in its bogus website. Trying to open such attachments shall also harbour malware which affects functioning of your computer. Forget the viruses being downloaded; think about how uncomfortable your relatives would be to receive such pornographic links from you. These scammers in the mean time receive his share of money for having done his work.

Fig: Pornographic link circulated by Facebook Users

I’ve also learned that our Bhutanese friends are easy prey to emotional hoax messages shared in Facebook. May be such attitude defines how religious we are, or may be it points out how innocent we are. You might have partaken in circulating post which claims that Facebook will donate $1 for every like, $3 for every comment, and $10 for every share of a sick baby. Did you? Don't show your teeth, I'm not insulting you but us. The photo might have been shared by scammers for their own coldhearted gains without parent's consensus. So, Mark Zuckerberg will not at all throw a penny for such irrational efforts you make. Remember, the mentioned sick baby will not be treated but you are treated as a baby to fall into scammers trap.

Fig: Hoax Message about Sick baby

There are many hoaxes in Facebook meant for looting you or just posted for pleasure but remember not to agree if bogus pages asked to share your information with third-party marketers which if permitted makes you flooded with unasked marketing emails. It is said that for every time you share your personal details, the scammers earn a commission from such websites. Most Importantly don't share your mobile phone number to fake websites or otherwise you may land up paying huge bills for every SMS the scammers send to you. 

Sorry, this article of mine is not to undermine the knowledge and intelligence of thousands of Bhutanese Facebook users but to strike a chord for some who are victimized now and then by scams and hoaxes. After reading this article, if you felt that I’m making sense then don’t forget to share to you near and dear ones, and save them from the online hunters.

Note: Being amateur writer, I ask forgiveness for all the grammatical errors made. Your feedbacks shall be taken constructively to improve the page content.

Categories: Social