Cybersafety Tips: Social Media Video Scam

To go in line with my new release of Casey and Aon - A Cybersafety Chapterbook for Kids, I will be sharing about some of the things children may not be aware of on the internet. With younger ones coming into contact with social media and messaging apps, video and file sharing, on their own or their parents' or siblings devices, it's never too soon to start educating them about cybersecurity, cybersafety and internet etiquette.

Today I received a post that, at first glance, seemed of interest but my scam-antennae were immediately alerted.

This message, from one of my friends, on Facebook Messenger said:

its you Amanda 😎 

852,547,25 views


Like many people, it is a secret dream of mine to have said or done something that other people find worthwhile. I do post blogs, images and videos from time-to-time, but nothing I would consider it possible to have 'gone viral'. Aside from the fact that the 'number' above is not even a real number and the writer can't even spell 'it's', this messenger post was suss because it had no preview pic or video.

It almost gets you, because it comes from a friend, and it uses your name. But this is a bot-generated scam probably sending you to a phishing website of some kind where you're tricked into entering your Facebook username and password. It then hacks you and sends out the same message to all your friends, and gathers information about you that only someone with your Facebook password could get.

So, yeah, don't be fooled by this Facebook Messenger Youtube scam or anything like it.