Live Shocking Footage of an Elephant Head Broken by Explosive Mines: Scam

Story:

A live shocking footage of an elephant head is broken by explosive mines!

Analysis:

A ‘video’ purporting to show the shocking live footage of an elephant head broken by explosive mines has been in circulation on Facebook. The Facebook post does show what appears like a thumbnail image of a video showing a beheaded elephant, but the claim as such is a hoax and in fact scam.

To check the authenticity of the story, when we clicked through, we were taken to a website (amazingvideoz.org/elephant/) that mimics Facebook page and appears to show the said video of beheaded elephant in mine explosion. To unlock and view the page, we were asked to like the page either on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter. But after 60 seconds wait, the page was accessible without liking anything. However, to see the ‘restricted video,’ we were forced to share it on Facebook, which is how the story goes viral.

After sharing the ‘exclusive’ video, the page asks for age verification involving the user to complete a ‘simple test’ — of participating in surveys, which again redirect to contests and other marketing/shopping websites that may not be authentic. In other words, the ‘shocking’ story of beheaded elephant is a cleverly designed scam. No wonder, there won’t be any such video. Also note that this Facebook scam can also be used to serve malware to the unsuspecting users. So do not click such stories shared on Facebook; either simply remove them from your timeline or report them to Facebook.

About the Image

Although the story is a hoax, the disturbing image of the beheaded elephant lying on the road is real; the poor creature was killed by poachers in Kenya, who cut off his tusk for the sake of Ivory. Needless to say, it’s an act of barbarism and human madness.

Scammers often use attention grabbing images like this and fabricate hoax stories with compelling headlines. So like we always say, do not believe in everything that you see and read online. Check and verify the authenticity of the source of information.