Current Facebook Scams and how they work – Circulating online
Showing you how the latest Facebook scams are operating.
As a computer repair technician serving the greater Brisbane area and assisting people across Australia through my website, Virus Removal Australia, I’m always on the lookout for new scams and tactics. Scammers constantly update their methods to target hard-working Australians, and I strive to stay ahead by keeping up to date with the latest scamming strategies.
I recently launched a website after noticing that counterfeit Samsung S23 phones were being sold on the Facebook Marketplace. These phones appeared identical to the authentic ones in look and weight. However, buyers soon realized the software was fake when they set it up at home. These knockoffs, often sold on cheap online marketplaces like AliExpress, duped customers into paying nearly $1000. Moreover, the Google sign-in on these devices wasn’t genuine either, allowing hackers in China to gain full access to users’ Google accounts, including passwords, photos, and all other personal data. It’s a real double whammy.
I wanted to share with you one of the latest scams I’ve been seeing on community message boards, and give you an insight into how they work. When you understand how they operate and what the scammers’ goals are, you can better equip yourself to warn others and somewhat cripple their ability to actually succeed in the scam.
Here's how the photo of an elderly woman, shared by someone claiming to be a caring individual who supposedly has dementia, turns into a scam.
You might’ve seen a similar post recently. Usually, it features either a vulnerable individual, like an elderly lady with dementia sitting on the ground looking confused, or someone claiming their child is missing and urging the community to share the post (despite not providing a police reference number to aid in an official search). At first glance, these posts seem genuine—after all, the poster isn’t asking for money, which is often the first sign of a scam. However, what the poster is actually doing is seeking a large number of shares and likes to manipulate Facebook’s algorithm. This tactic boosts the post’s visibility on people’s walls due to the reactions it receives.
After gaining sufficient popularity for their post, the scammers abruptly switch the details over in the post. This final stage of the scam usually involves something highly desirable or sought after. At the moment, Australia is facing a severe housing crisis with an insufficient number of homes available, leading many people to homelessness. The below serves as an example of the type of post that they have lately been changing to.
Notice how the profile has turned off the comments. She deleted all the previous responses that were specific to the elderly lady and now irrelevant. However, she’s kept the likes and shares, skyrocketing the post to the top of a Facebook group due to the initial emotional triggers. Now, the scammer doesn’t want you interacting on the public wall where others can see and comment. Instead, she wants you to message them privately, where she’ll likely claim there’s high demand for the house and require a deposit to reserve it. Through this tactic, the scammer has cleverly used the initial popularity to attract attention and then shifted strategies to collect deposits for a nonexistent house. People see how popular a place is with 38 likes, and this creates a sense of urgency when the poster says that they will hold the home for them if they make a deposit of a couple of hundred dollars. That may not seem like a lot – but usually these scammers are talking to multiple people who are all struggling to find a place to live which can make it very profitable for them.
Please note that the names used in these scams are often entirely fabricated or they may have stolen the identities and photos of other individuals. This aspect of the scam can be devastating for those whose identities have been misused and reputations tarnished. The people in the photos are typically unaware of how their images are being exploited and are not involved in the scam.
Similar to the pictures of a missing person / Grandma suffering dementia that needs help by the community – this one is done by advertising free food such as expensive meat and vegetables usually with a tag line of
“You’re invited to pick up FREE FOOD tomorrow again 9.30am to 6.00pm !! You can pick up for yourself or on behalf of someone else! Join our group for more information or more details!”
The photos being used below are from individuals who are unaware that their images are being exploited to scam others but like the elderley grandma photo above – these “too good to be true” face book posts will soon be changed over to most likely a House to Rent – Up front Deposit required once the posts get enough traction.
What Can you do to protect yourself and others?
- Share this post with others by clicking on the Facebook share at the top of this page. By sharing the post your not only warning people that it’s a scam but your helping people to understand the process of the scam and how it works. When people are educated with ways that scammers work they can also protect themselves against future threats.
- If you wish to warn others when this post changes, you can save the post on Facebook by clicking on the three dots and Save to your Facebook page if you desire. By doing so you can keep up to date of the process of the scam and If commenting hasn’t’ been disabled by the time the post changes – you can then warn others by sharing a link to this page – so others can see why it’s classified a scam. If you’ve ever looked at your saved items and wondered why you saved an odd post that you normally wouldn’t save, this explains that the original post has been changed. To access your saved posts, click on your profile button, then select ‘Saved’ to review previous posts you’ve saved and see if they’ve changed as shown below.
- Learn how to identify fake profiles. Facebook has been around for a while, and although not everyone uses it, it’s always intriguing when someone new joins relatively recently and their firsts posts are about ‘Free food’ and other tempting offers. By clicking on the person’s name, you can view their post history and publicly shared activity. Scammers typically make their posts public to increase visibility and encourage sharing across groups, so you can see what groups they are posting to and their general activity. From here, you can report a suspicious profile to Facebook. Unfortunately, most reports don’t lead to action unless there’s a massive number of users reporting that profile or if Facebook identifies a suspected pattern in profile activity. A new profile with these types of posts alone isn’t enough for Facebook to remove someone’s profile, so they must always err on the side of caution. Even if a Facebook profile is taken down, it’s easy enough for scammers to create a new one, which is why it’s crucial to educate yourself and your loved ones on how scams operate and be aware of current threats. This knowledge puts you in a better position to protect yourself and your loved ones in the future. You can report a page by clicking on the below button on the profile page. See how to report a profile below.
My company Zoo Computer Repairs has over 1000 5 star reviews and we assist people with anything to do with their technology needs but specialize in Computer, Malware and Spyware removal and giving computers an annual clean up and checkup. If you have any information about any other scams that are circulating that we can do a page on to warn people or think that you have been scammed yourself or simply want to make sure that your computer has the latest security on it, please give us a call on 0410 659 349. We can give your computer a clean up and tune up no matter where you are located in Australia with our remote service. For more information check out our other website – Virus, Malware, Spyware Removal Australia. Due to the fact that we connect to people’s computer’s remotely, which in itself can be dangerous if you have no idea who the person / company is – which is why we work so hard on building up trusted online reviews on an external website that we don’t have control over.
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