Like Farming Scam

Do you click the “like” button on social media? Be careful…

Who Is It Targeting: Social media users

What Is It: “Farming” for likes so that malicious posts show up in more people’s feeds

What Are They After: You’ve probably seen heart-wrenching posts that feature a little girl with artificial legs, with a caption that says, “Her friends said she won’t get even one like on her birthday. Like this post to prove them wrong!”

This and all of the others like it are a complete fabrication. There have even been lawsuits around the use of stolen pictures for scams like this one. In this case, the person who posted it relies on “likes” to make all of his posts show up in more people’s social media feeds. Then, when it’s time to direct people to a scam post or a malicious software download, more people will see it and be likely to click.

How Can You Avoid It:

• Don’t click like on people’s posts unless you know them and have reason to do so.
• Please don’t share these types of posts; they’re bogus and potentially harmful, and you’re now spreading the content.
• The little girl in the picture doesn’t even know her image is online, and she won’t be notified of your interaction.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530. Find more information about current scams and alerts here. For full details of this scam check out this article from KimKomando.com.