Facebook links purporting to show a video of a biker who recorded his own death on his GoPro cam are spreading across Facebook along with a graphic image showing a [presumably] deceased biker who has been cut into two pieces.
The links are a classic example of a survey scam whereas users who click the link are taken to an external webpage that begins by urging visitors to share the webpage before continuing. Upon doing this the visitor is then told to complete a survey.
These scams are prolific on Facebook and continually fool users despite their lack of originality. Facebook users share the links onto their own timelines, thus baiting their friends to the same scam, and often fail to delete the links once they realise they’ve been duped.
The surveys that visitors are asked to complete are typically intrusive data-harvesting techniques used to target those who complete them with spam communications. Further they can also be used to commit identity theft. Such webpages could also try and install malware on your computer too.
Yet Facebook users continue to post links to such webpages on their timelines in order to watch click-baity videos.
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As for the video itself, we’ve seen the same thumbnail a number of times over the last few years, yet only recently has it appeared under the caption that a GoPro camera caught the alleged accident on film, suggesting there is no video to watch at all. What’s more we cannot even confirm the legitimacy of the photo displayed in the thumbnail.
Don’t share webpages to watch videos and don’t complete surveys to watch videos. And if you do end up sharing this link on your timeline, do your friends a favour and delete it!
