Clickbait scammers are faking emotional stories about people becoming infected with COVID-19 to lure social media users into visiting spammy or malicious websites.
Some links claim to come from the father of two newborn twin babies that have become infected with COVID-19 and implore social media users to pray and share links on their social media timelines. An example is below.
Pray for my boys they tested positive for COVID-19 I don’t want to loose them.
If you’re seeing this then we need your help
Am not asking you for money but a single share and prayer for my twin boys
Please share this to at least 5 groups on facebook so they can get more prayers
Dont be heartless to help a dying children
However the claims are false and the photos used in these links have been stolen from elsewhere. The scammers are using the fake exploitative story to lure people into visiting spammy or malicious websites.
In links that we have analysed, many lead to websites that don’t offer any more information but attempt to make money from ad revenue on the site. Other links lead to websites that promote fake work-from-home opportunities.
In the case of the links purporting to lead to stores about two newborn twin boys, the photos of two newborn babies in hospital have been stolen from the Internet and are not related to the coronavirus pandemic. The image of the “crying father” also pre-dates the coronavirus pandemic.
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If you see posts and links on social media that appear designed to lure people into engaging with them, especially if they appear emotionally manipulative, then it’s probably a case of clickbait scamming or like-farming. That means the spammers are being deceptive and exploitative to trick you into clicking a link or engaging with a social media post.
Other fake emotional stories are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic as well. Examples of these headlines include –
My husband and baby tested positive for Coronavirus. Please pray for them, I can’t lose them.
My wife and daughter is infected with CORONAVIRUS please pray for them I don’t want to lose them.
If you see these, the best advice is to simply ignore them. Spammers simply do not care how they exploit people and will sink to literally any level to make money off the back of a global pandemic.
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