Story:
Breaking News
Huge Plane Crashes Into Bridge!
< Link >
Huge plane crashes into a bridge, watch this terrible accident! 18+ only!
Analysis:
The message comes as a Facebook post claiming to show a video of a huge Plane crashing into a Bridge in a terrible accident. It is not a fact; the message is a clickjacking scam on Facebook.
The ‘breaking news’ story appears on Facebook as a snapshot of image showing an airplane crashing into a busy traffic bridge and comes with a clickable title linked to other webpages. In most cases, the webpage hosting the video is a faux Facebook page, and this is to convince (deceive) the user that the said video does exist. Scammers generally use unauthorized websites to share all such fake stories, as shown in the screenshot of root directory of one such website.
When a Facebook user clicks on the post and tries to play the video in the hosting site, he is asked to share the video link first before viewing the video. Once the video is shared on user’s Facebook profile, which is how the scam spreads, the user is redirected to other marketing and promotional stuff like surveys, or installing rogue Facebook apps and other software that can be malicious. In the name of surveys, the users can also be robbed of their personal information like phone numbers. No surprise, there is no such video showing a huge plane crashing into a bridge. The thumbnail image that comes with the story is actually a digital illustration of artist Steve McGhee in one of his albums portraying ‘disaster,’ to which a picture of a man appearing like jumping from the plane is added.
So the Facebook posts claiming to show video of a huge plane crashing into a bridge is basically a clickjacking scam, do not click on them. If you have fallen victim for this Facebook scam, you can remove the posts from your wall, and if you have given away your personal information like phone number, you can check the website to unsubscribe. In case you have installed any rogue Facebook apps, you can delete them from Apps section in your Account Settings.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax, and a Scam.
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