Outline
Facebook Post featuring images of a young girl at the dentist claims that the little girl felt something moving around inside her gums. The post invites you to click a link to view video footage and see what was inside.
Brief Analysis
The message is a typical ‘shocking video’ scam and is designed to trick users into installing rogue Facebook Apps, visiting dodgy survey pages, and downloading fake plugins that harbour malware. The case referenced in the video is real. A dentist in Brazil discovered a maggot infection inside 10-year-old Ana Cardoso’s gums. However, you can read information about the case – and even view a video – without visiting the scam website linked to in this Facebook Post.
Example
This Little Girl Complained About Something Moving Inside her Gums, What Dentists Found Out Is Terrifying
Detailed Analysis
According to a post appearing on Facebook, a little girl complained of something moving inside her gums and what dentists found was terrifying. The post, which features images of the girl at the dentist, invites you to click to watch a video of the process and discover what was inside the girl’s gums.
However, if you do click in the hope of seeing the video, you will first be asked to allow a video Facebook app to access your profile and post on your behalf. If you give permission as requested, the app will post the same scam message on your news feed, thereby exposing all of your Facebook friends to the threat as well.
Next, you will be taken to a ‘trending video’ website that appears to host the video. However, a notice on the page claims that a plugin is required to view the video. Clicking the plugin download link opens another page where you can install a ‘free media player’.
But, in fact, the video plugin is a malware program that can take over your browser, display malicious advertisements, and interfere with your computer’s security settings.
And, the page may automatically redirect you to a suspect third-party ‘survey’ website that offers the chance to win expensive prizes in exchange for providing your personal information. The information you provide will be shared with various Internet marketing groups which means you will soon be inundated with annoying promotional phone calls, emails, and letters.
The scammers receive a commission fee each time a person provides their information on one of the survey sites.
While the post itself is a scam, the case it refers to is real. A dentist in Brazil discovered that 10-year-old Ana Cardoso had a fly lava maggot infection in her gums. A video of the procedure shows a dentist removing 15 maggots from the youngster’s gums.
Should you actually be inclined to see this video, you can find it on YouTube without the need to install any rogue apps, download any malware, or fill in any surveys.
Perhaps in a rather lame effort to appear more legitimate, the scam video page actually has the YouTube video of the extraction embedded further down the page. However, many people will likely click the ‘plugin download’ link at the top of the page rather than scroll down to discover the embedded video.
Shocking video scam posts like this commonly appear on Facebook. If one comes your way, do not click it, do not install any apps or plugins that it recommends, and do not participate in any surveys that it links to.
In many cases, you can see the original footage on YouTube anyway.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
