Brief Analysis
At the time of writing, the missing aircraft has not been found. The message is a scam designed to promote and gain new sign-ups for a dodgy video streaming website. The image used in the post shows a plane that crashed into the sea at the end of a runway in Bali. The Lion Air crash took place in May 2013 and has no connection whatsoever to Flight MH370.
Detailed Analysis
A message appearing on Facebook claims that missing aircraft Flight MH370 has now been found in the Indian Ocean. The post invites users to click on a teaser image to see a 'shocking video' of the plane. The teaser image depicts a downed but still intact passenger aircraft floating in the sea with passengers being rescued by boat.
However, as I write this, Flight MH370 has still not been located. While the search for the missing aircraft has focused on the Indian Ocean, there are still no conclusive indications of where the plane is.
The Facebook post is a callous and nasty scam designed simply to promote a dodgy video streaming website. Users who click the teaser image in the hope of seeing the crash footage will be taken to a bogus Facebook page that supposedly hosts the video. But, when they attempt to play the video, they are told via a popup notice that they must first share it on Facebook Via this mechanism, the scam post is seen by all of the user's friends and will therefore gain more victims who will continue to spread it across the network.
The Facebook post is a callous and nasty scam designed simply to promote a dodgy video streaming website. Users who click the teaser image in the hope of seeing the crash footage will be taken to a bogus Facebook page that supposedly hosts the video. But, when they attempt to play the video, they are told via a popup notice that they must first share it on Facebook Via this mechanism, the scam post is seen by all of the user's friends and will therefore gain more victims who will continue to spread it across the network.
Once users have dutifully shared the scam message, they will be redirected to a suspect video streaming website that again supposedly hosts the crash video. But, users will be told that they must create an account on the video site before they can view the footage. Even if they do create an account as requested, they will never get to see the promised video, which never existed in the first place.
The image used in the message depicts a Lion Air plane that crashed into the sea off Bali in 2013. The aircraft overshot the runway and plunged into shallow water close to shore. All passengers and crew survived the crash. It seems that the scammer has digitally removed the "Lion" livery on the picture of the stricken aircraft to make the claims seem more believable.
The image used in the message depicts a Lion Air plane that crashed into the sea off Bali in 2013. The aircraft overshot the runway and plunged into shallow water close to shore. All passengers and crew survived the crash. It seems that the scammer has digitally removed the "Lion" livery on the picture of the stricken aircraft to make the claims seem more believable.
This scam is only one in a series of similar Facebook scams that have falsely claimed that Flight MH370 has been located 'Shocking video' scams are very common on Facebook, but these versions are especially heinous and disrespectful. The messages may give false hope to the friends and family of passengers on the missing flight. The morally bankrupt people who create these scams are beneath contempt. Any organization willing to promote itself by deliberately posting false information about a tragedy loses every shred of credibility and should not be trusted.
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