Scammers called “click fraudsters” are setting up fake Facebook pages of victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 to defraud unsuspecting Internet users.
As reported earlier, looters wasted no time in stealing cash, credit cards and other valuables from the victims. In the latest episode of Humanity is the Worst, the Sydney Morning Herald reports six fake Facebook profile pages were set up under the names of people who died when MH17 was shot down over the Ukraine.
The pages each contain a single link to a blog site, purporting to contain information on the MH17 crash. Users are then hit with a series of pop-up ads for online gambling, get-rich-quick schemes, and other dubious products and services.
Disturbingly, three of the fake pages have been set up in the names of young West Australian children who were killed.
Not only that, but the links typically infect computers with malware. By the way, scammers also targeted Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 with a similar Facebook scam. It’s a trend that’s hard to beat and isn’t going to die down soon unfortunately. Alastair MacGibbon, director of the University of Canberra’s Centre for Internet Safety told the Sydney Morning Herald the scams are incredibly lucrative for criminals, who don’t really care who they exploit or ripoff in the wake of a tragedy such as this.
“You’re really dealing with a base type of person who uses the name of a person recently deceased in a tragedy to monetize,” he said. “It’s a really distasteful trend.”
Image via AP Images.