‘Bait-and-switch’ internet scams target us with emotionally-charged posts. But do you know what your friends see when you share those posts with your network?
A internet scam post on a phone shows the photo of a generic child available on Canva. (Illustration by News Decoder)
This article was produced exclusively for News Decoder’s global news service. It is through articles like this that News Decoder strives to provide context to complex global events and issues and teach global awareness through the lens of journalism. Learn how you can incorporate our resources and services into your classroom or educational program.
You might have scrolled through your social media when a post popped up reading:
“Be on the lookout for this man, considered armed and dangerous! Share this post to bring attention.”
Or:
“Help find this missing child! Like and share this post to find this boy.”
Or:
“An elderly woman wandered from her nursing home and hasn’t been seen since Friday. Share this post to your network ASAP!”
You want to help. So you share the post to your own profile and networks. But little did you know, you’ve just fallen victim to a “bait-and-switch” scheme, most often found on Facebook.
Alarming, emotion-evoking social media posts that contain language like the above often turn out to be a scheme to collect personal information from social media users. After a person shares the original post, the scammer changes the content of the original to a deceptive rental ad, a scam shopping website or a survey that offers incredible prizes for those who complete it.
These newly “flipped” posts then ask users to provide personal information or pay an associated fee, which can lead to identify theft.
The different iterations of bait-and-switch
The U.S. nonprofit business watchdog Better Business Bureau (BBB) describes bait-and-switch posts as having many variations but commonly including “the emotionality or urgency of the message that encourages concerned people to share the news with their friends.”
“These posts are shared in local buy-and-sell groups because there is already a sense of community and trust within these crowds, and people may not realize that scammers are targeting members. Scammers sometimes also turn comments off on the posts so other group members can’t oust them,” the Better Business Bureau reports. “Once a post has shares and engagement, the scammer will flip the post — that is, update the post to be about something completely different, usually a house or apartment for rent. Hence, the name ‘bait and switch.’”
To a trained eye, bait-and-switch scam ads are easily identifiable.
“The biggest thing people need to remember is to do a little research before blindly sharing a post on social media,” said Melanie McGovern of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus. “Checking the profile to see if it looks legitimate, or if it looks like it was just created, be wary of reposting.”
Red flags to watch out for
These sorts of posts often do not present evidence to support the claims they make. For example, many contain vague descriptions and do not provide key details or information that would support verification. They also often lack a call to action, such as asking posters to contact local authorities if they find the “missing” or “dangerous” person.
“If it is a legitimate post there will be other accounts, and in some cases news organizations posting it as well, especially if a child is missing,” McGovern said.
If you suspect a bait-and-switch, conduct a keyword search using phrases from the post in question in the social media site you use. If the search renders multiple identical or similarly-phrased posts in separate locations — often in community chats — it’s likely a bait-and-switch post.
You can also conduct a reverse image search which may reveal the original source of the image or whether the photo has been shared in other contexts. Here’s some help for doing that.
Many bait-and-switch posts will have comments turned off and will hashtag various cities.
How to trace a post history
To determine whether a suspected bait-and-switch Facebook post has been “flipped,” click the three dots (…) at the top right corner of the post. The post’s “edit history” will show how it originally appeared on the site.
Edit history will open as a pop-up window and show when the post was changed. It will also show attachments or images that were removed or swapped at the time of the flip, as well as the original and updated captions.
Oftentimes, posts in community groups that seem too good to be true were initially posted as emotion-evoking posts.
The BBB provides the following advice for those who think they may be seeing a bait-and-switch ad:
→ Do some digging before resharing a post on your profile. Read the information carefully and look at the profile of the person who created and shared the original post. If the profile is from Florida but shared the post in a Canadian group, it may be a red flag of a bait-and-switch publication.
→ Find out when the poster created the Facebook profile. Scammers always create profiles when their old one gets banned. If you click on their profile, it will tell you how long they have been a member of the group. You can also find additional information on their public profile.
→ Check the grammar. If you notice poor grammar and spelling or misplaced punctuation marks (like extra space separating periods), it could be a scam.
→ Are the comments turned off? Scammers don’t allow comments because they don’t want other users to point out the scam.
→ You should see it in the news. If a child goes missing or a tragedy occurs, you’ll most likely see it on different news outlets or shared by law enforcement, not on a random post in a local group.
→ Do a reverse image search on Google to find out if the pictures you saw were used on other ads or websites in different cities.
→ Find similar posts. Copy and paste the text from the post into your search tool to see if other posts with the same text and different pictures show up.
If you see posts like this, McGovern says to report it to the BBB Scam Tracker.
Posts on Facebook can also be reported to Meta. To do so, click the three dots (…) at the top right of the post. Select “Find support or report post” and follow the prompts.
Questions to consider:
1. Why are some internet scams called “bait-and-switch”?
2. What are some signs that a post might be scam?
3. How can you avoid falling for an Internet scam?
Madison Dapcevich is a reporter who focuses on fact-checking scientific reporting, including marine and environmental issues and climate change. Her writing has been featured in Time, Lead Stories, Snopes, IFLScience, Business Insider, Outside, EcoWatch and Alaska Magazine, among others. Raised on an island in southeast Alaska, Madison is now based in the U.S. state of Montana.