Straight Talk: Watch for scam posts in Facebook buy-and-sell groups

Better Business Bureau serving Canton Region and Greater West Virginia offers tips and advice for consumers to avoid fraudulent practices.

BBB is warning Facebook users that sharing a certain kind of attention-grabbing post might put their friends at risk of falling victim to a scam.

How the scam works

You are scrolling through Facebook, and a gut-wrenching post about an injured, lost pet, or a missing child grabs your attention. You want to help, so you share the post on your own profile.

After you share the post, a scammer will change the original post to a deceptive rental ad or a link to a survey that "guarantees" a cash prize. Now, your friends think you have recommended that content. These bait-and-switch ads aim to either get a deposit for a rental property before the user gets a chance to see the home -- or get your personal information, which could lead to identity theft.

BBB has seen multiple variations of these shared on local buy-and-sell Facebook groups across Canada, and USA Today (bit.ly/USAtodaystory) also reported about it in October. The commonality is the emotionality or urgency of the message, which encourages concerned people to share the news with their friends.

These posts are shared in local buy-and-sell groups because there is already a sense of community and trust within these crowds. Scammers sometimes also turn comments off on the posts so other group members cannot oust them.

Tips to avoid a bait-and-switch social media scam

  • Do a bit of digging before resharing a post on your profile. Read the information carefully and look at the profile of the person who created and shared the original post. If the profile is from Florida but shared the post in a Canadian group, it may be a red flag of a bait-and-switch publication.

  • Find out when the poster created the Facebook profile. Scammers always create profiles when their old one gets banned. If you click on their profile, it will tell you how long they have been a member of the group. You can also find additional information on their public profile.

  • You should see it in the news. If a child goes missing or a tragedy occurs, you will most likely see it on different news outlets or shared by law enforcement, not on a random post.

  • Identify phony posts. First, do a reverse image search on Google. That will allow you to find out if the pictures you saw were used on other ads or websites in different cities.

  • Find similar posts. Copy and paste the text from the post into Facebook's search tool to see if other posts with the same text and different pictures show up.

For more information

Read more about Facebook scams (bit.ly/facebookmarketplacescam). If you suspect a post is a scam, report it to Facebook (bit.ly/FacebookScamReport). To learn more about puppy scams, see BBB's full report on puppy scams (BBB.org/article/scams/14213-puppy-scams-how-to-protect-yourself-from-fake-online-pet-sellers) and our pet scams resource page (BBB.org/all/petscams).

For BBB information

Visit BBB.org/canton or call 330-454-9401 to look up a business, file a complaint, write a customer review, read tips, find our events, follow us on social media, and more!

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Straight Talk: Watch for scam posts in Facebook buy-and-sell groups