SCAM – ‘Devil’s Pool Fall Epic Selfie Video’

Outline

Facebook post featuring a teaser image of a man taking a photograph at the edge of Africa’s Devil’s Pool urges users to click to watch video footage of the man’s accidental fall. 

Brief Analysis

The message is a scam designed to trick people into creating accounts on a suspect video streaming website. The photograph of the man is genuine, but he did not fall as claimed and there is no video. Those who click the link will first be asked to like and share the ‘video’ via Facebook before being taken to the video-streaming site to sign up.

Example

Detailed Analysis

A post circulating via Facebook features an image of a man standing close to the edge of the Devil’s Pool at Africa’s Victoria Falls. The post claims that after taking an ‘epic selfie’ photograph, the man slipped over the edge and fell – presumably – to his death. The post invites users to click the image to view a video of the accident.

The message is just another in an endless series of Facebook video scams designed to promote particular websites or Facebook Pages. Thankfully, there are no reports suggesting that the pictured man slipped and fell and the promised video does not exist.

It is a little disturbing that people would even want to watch video footage of a man plunging to his death. Nevertheless, many people apparently do. Those who click the link will first be taken to a fake Facebook Page that supposedly hosts the video. But, when they hit the ‘Play’ button, they will be told that they must first share the message via Facebook. This is a very effective mechanism for promoting the scam message across the network. 

The picture itself is genuine, as is the Devil’s Pool. The Victoria Falls are on Africa’s Zambezi River and border the nations of Zambia and Zimbabwe. A collection of photographs depicting people swimming in the Devil’s Pool has circulated via email and social media for several years. The pool is located right at the top of the falls. Swimming in the pool is a popular activity for more adventurous visitors to the area. The pool is only used when water levels are comparatively low. A natural rock ledge stops swimmers from being swept over the edge.

The photograph used in the scam has appeared in various blog posts about the falls.

If this scam message comes your way, do not click the link that it contains.