Overview
The victim expects to help out a person on social media who needs attention to their cause.
How It Works
The scammer concocts a post with viral qualities (lost child, hit-and-run accident, etc) and asks other people to "bump this post" or spread the post to help the subject.
Once the post has reached sufficient virality that the platform sees it as interesting and begins promoting it on people's feeds, the scammer edits the post to include a link to malware, phishing site, or some other bait.
The purpose of this ruse is to rope unsuspecting platform users into making a post go viral so that once the post is turned into scam bait, its malicious link is seen by more people.
Related Articles
‘Please Share’—A Viral Scam in Disguise, KnowledgeFlow
Related Scams
2.2.3 Spoofed Or Phishing Interaction Scam: This scam is related to generic spoofing or phishing scams
Related Crime Schemes
A particular instance of this scam may embed one or more of these related schemes.
Data Loss or Theft: Any scheme that results in victim losing data/scammer stealing data. Data in this context can mean login credentials, credit card details, or other personal or corporate information.
Victim Targeting Context
The scammer may use one or more of the following techniques to reach the victim.
Advertising: The scammer uses advertising to passively reach the victim.
Social Engineering: Psychological Manipulations
The scammer may use one or more of these psychological techniques to accomplish the scam.
Nice Guy: The scammer takes advantage of the victim's generosity or attempt to be "a nice guy".
Urgency: The scammer employs urgency to increase the likelihood that the victim will take action.
Social Engineering: Impersonation Techniques
The scammer may impersonate one or more of the following groups as part of the scam.
Catfishing: The perpetrator creates a fictitious online profile or persona.