Avoid Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Scams on Facebook

With so many theories surrounding what really happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that vanished with 239 passengers on board ten days ago, people will click just about anything they see to get more information about the missing plane.  No surprise, hackers are trying to take advantage of your curiosity to steal your personal information.

According to NBC News videos with headlines like "Malaysia MH370 Plane found in Bermuda Triangle! Passengers alive! Breaking news video footage of this miracle just released on CNN!" or "MH370 Malaysia plane has been found. Shocking videos released today. Last video of passengers crying released" have started to appear on Facebook news feeds.  Unfortunately the photos underneath the fake play button you're playing aren't the missing flight.  They're photos of the "Miracle on the Hudson" and a flight that missed the runway in Indonesia last April.

When you click the videos the links take you outside of Facebook that look like the social network, YouTube or a legitimate news site, but the videos there don't play.  You'll probably be asked to take a survey where the hackers can get your personal information from you (and sometimes makes them money) or to share the video with their friends to keep the scam rolling.  It may also ask you to install some sort of software that will actually infect your computer with Trojan-Horse Malware.  To protect yourself, resist curiosity and update your anti-virus/anti-malware software and unlike any suspicious links you may have clicked.