Weekly Hoax Post: Malaysian Missing Plane

by Christina Yeager

Every week there’s another hoax post that fuels outrage on the Web. We’re going to share them with you along with some lessons learned. It’s YOUR duty to spread the word, so that outraged folks can focus on the truly outrageous, like Madonna’s armpit hair. 

This week, we will inform you on the faux video images circulating on Facebook about the missing Malaysian plane being found – which is untrue, of course (though still a mystery).

Let’s be honest here. We all had hope that flight 370 would be located and everyone would be alive and well. Didn’t we? News of the Malaysian flight has been warped and twisted into deceptive posts. The longer this scenario plays out, the more people will feed into bogus news. It’s important to keep our heads about us and NOT click the phony Facebook posts thus spreading the lie further.




What You See

The posts show a mock-up image of a video showing a slightly damaged plane (similar to what the Malaysian flight 370 might have looked like) with or without passengers being rescued.

Some titles associated with the phony Malaysian Facebook post:

·        “Malaysian Airlines missing flight MH370 found in Sea – 50 people alive Saved”

·        [BREAKING NEWS] Malaysian Plane Crash is FOUND!

·        “Video of Malaysia MH370 Plane found in Bermuda Triangle!”

·        [NEWS UPDATE] Missing Plane Has Been Found!

·        “Passengers alive! Breaking news video footage of this miracle just released on CNN!” 


That’s just a few! There are other post titles and images floating around out there in Webland.

Why You Fall For It

Hope. That is why. We all want the miracle of discovering a fantastical twist of fate for the missing plane. Surely, you must realize headlines like these are purely fictional. We’ve seen it all by now – conspiracy theories and even alien abductions. You want the fiction to be true! Don’t we all? Truth is…we simply pray for a happy ending.

What Will Happen

Once you click on the video image of the waterlogged plane, you will be redirected to fake site. These sites look like Facebook, YouTube and even CNN. They are not the real sites. While you are wishing to see video footage – you will not. Instead you will be asked to share the video in question first to be rerouted to the ‘actual’ video.

Even after sharing the post to Facebook, you STILL will not see any video. You’ll then most likely be asked to complete a survey.

And spreading the scam to your friends.

Did you see it and click? Did your friends? Don't you read these posts? Cut it out!