A viral Facebook post is saying an 800-pound snake was pulled out a Chicago, Ill., lake, but it’s just a scam.
The post has a well-used image that was taken in Indonesia a few years ago of what appears to by a reticulated python being held by a tractor. There’s no video footage of a snake that large in Chicago.
Similar Facebook scams have used the same snake image under different pretexts, including a scam of that very same snake being found in North Carolina.
When one clicks on the post, they’re taken to a website that prompts them to share first before going further. This allows the posts to be spread even further, which can make money for the scammers.
After that, users are taken to a page that displays surveys that also generate revenue for the scammers. It’s not recommended to fill these out.
“Once on the website, the victim will be asked to complete surveys or share the same website before he/she can view the video. Now, sharing this web page will only help spread this scam to other Facebook users. And, completing the surveys will only generate revenue for the cybercriminals behind this scam,” says security website Online Threat Alerts about similar scams. “The victim on the other hand, will not be able to view the video that they were promised, because it doesn’t exist.”
“If you have shared this scam, remove the share Facebook post from your Timeline or Wall, because this will help stop the spreading of this scam.”
Facebook has promised to clean up spam recently, but the company has a lot of work to do.
“Some stories in News Feed use inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads. For instance, often these stories claim to link to a photo album but instead take the viewer to a website with just ads,” Facebook said earlier this month.
