TULSA, Okla. — Local Facebook groups are a popular way to find items, and feel like you’re getting a great deal. But, if you’re not careful, you could wind up getting scammed.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) said the scam works like this, you’re scrolling Facebook and you see a gut-wrenching post about a lost pet, you want to help, so you share the post on your profile. But sharing attention grabbing posts might put your friends at risk of falling victim to a scam.
“The problem is that those groups are getting infiltrated with scam artists, you’ll like a group there are legitimate people on there, but now we’ve got some people joining these groups and sharing things that are there just to scam you,” said Amie Mitchell with the BBB.
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The BBB said you may share a legitimate post, but then the scammer changes the original post to a deceptive rental ad or a link to a survey that promises a cash prize, now your friends think you are sharing it, so you’ve given it credibility, and the scammer could try to get your friends’ money or personal information.
“What we’re seeing is people sharing legitimate content, then afterwards going in and modifying that content, so that it can seem like something else, grab your attention and say ‘my friend likes that’, or ‘my friend posted that’, or ‘they commented, this must be legitimate,’ then you get taken advantage of, unfortunately,” she said.
If you see a compelling post your friend is sharing, do your homework.
“Reverse google search is the way to go,” Mitchell said.
Before you share a post, do your homework, if the profile is from Florida, but it’s shared in a Rogers County group, this could be a red flag.
You can also look to see when the poster created the profile and how long someone has been a member of a group. And look for similar posts, copy and paste the text into Facebook’s search tool to see if other posts show up. If you suspect the post is a scam report it to Facebook.
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