Published: May 05, 2021 on our newsletter Security Fraud News & Alerts Newsletter.
Many of us have likely gained the COVID-19 pounds or some weight over the past year. Scammers on Facebook are taking advantage of those of us wanting to shed the extra bacon. A scam that has actually been around for many years is resurfacing. You may have seen it forwarded to a friend’s Facebook wall, or perhaps you were tagged. It purports to help you shed those cookies faster than you can fry an egg…like 20 pounds in 25 days! Yep, that is fast. It’s also a scam.
If you see a friend tagged with a terribly worded post about a Shark Tank superstar weight loss plan, ignore it. It might be tempting to click on the link included in it and see what the hoopla is all about, but you can bet it’s going to be one of a few nefarious things:
Malware
Scam Products
Virus
Spyware
Something that keeps going around annoying all your friends
Something else that isn’t going to allow you to avoid exercise to shred the pounds, stones, or kilos.
There are various versions of it, but they all have the same slideshow that includes the Shark Tank “sharks,” various before and after pics that are too good to be true, and a short clip of the Dr. Oz show where it appears that they are trying this miracle product.
If that information isn’t enough for you to find it (after all, there are actual Shark Tank videos out there), the very poorly written note should tip you off immediately. There are words spelled like “VV ei Gh t” or “P0u-n-ds” that are very obvious indicators that it’s just a scam; or something worse.
And of course, don’t provide any payment information on the other end of that link, if you do happen to click on it.
If you are tagged or it’s forwarded to you on any type of social media, ignore it, delete it, report it. It’s definitely up to no good and you will still have to exercise.
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