Facebook Scam Report from Consumer Reports

My new (June 2018) issue of Consumer Reports arrived in the mail today. One of the featured articles is: Protect Yourself From These 7 Scams (p.26) by Mary C. Hickey. I thought some of you might be interested in the following scam involving Facebook users.

Facebook ‘Like’ Farming

Quite often we click the “thumbs-up” button, add a comment and/or even “share” the posting. Could that hurt? Evidently, it could.

You (I) could be (become) a victim of “like-farmng.” This is a post designed to draw the kind of attention that will continue ensure that it shows up in more and more people’s news feeds.

Once a high enough number of likes/shares has been reached the creators of the page change its content. The new content could be an ad for a business that really does not exist or the usual to-good-to-be-true product that you can purchase online.

It would seem that we must be ever more careful of what we like and share on Facebook.

Other scams reported (and how to avoid falling for them):

  • Smishing and Spoofing
  • Shimmer Scams
  • Tech-Support Fraud
  • White Label Ticket Scams
  • Ransomware
  • Online Charity Scams
  • IRS Imposters
  • Home Repairs and Security Checks
  • Grandparents Scam
  • Lotteries and Sweepstakes

There is also page on “Tracking Down the Crooks” about reporting scams, recourse and possible restitution.


Mist and Smoke "Resting"
Mist and Smoke “Resting”