Lethbridge police concerned about 'bait-and-switch tactic' on social media

An undated photo showing a Lethbridge Police Service vehicle. (Supplied)

Lethbridge police are warning the public over what they're calling a "bait-and-switch tactic" being used by scammers who are posting on social media about phony alerts about missing children, seniors and pets.

Officials say there's been an alarming increase of "hoax posts" meant to elicit an emotional response and be shared widely among social media groups.

Some of the posts include alerts about missing children, wandering seniors, children found with no identification or injured pets.

Once the fraudsters decide it's been shared enough, police said they change the post to something else entirely.

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"The original poster then changes the content to a phony prize give away, too-good-to-be-true rental opportunity or multi-level marketing scam," police said in a news release.

"Everyone who unsuspectingly shared the original missing person, wandering senior or injured pet post, now has the new post on their feed which usually features links to a nefarious website."

Police say this is dangerous because some people "may be more inclined" to click on a link from someone they know and may not be aware they've been tricked.

"Scammers prey on good intentions and the desire to help," said Sgt. Kevin Talbot with the economic crimes unit.

"It's critical, with so much false information circulating online, that everyone exercises a little bit of due diligence and verifies the contents of a post before sharing it."

Other posts even focus on free food giveaways, police said.

"In these cases, the posts feature images of boxes full of meat, produce and other goods and ask people to join a private group to get the location of the event or register to receive food. Upon clicking the link and joining the group, scammers have the opportunity to collect personal information."

Police say everyone can protect themselves by being cautious online and whenever they click a link that they aren't sure about.

Officials advise people to:

• Examine the profiles of the original posters to see if there is anything suspicious about their account;
• Look at the posts themselves to see if the comments are turned off or do not contain any contact details;
• Check for similar posts by using Facebook's search tool;
• Do a reverse image search on any of the photos used in the post; and
• Consider not sharing posts you see online and instead search out information from legitimate websites in the media or law enforcement.

Police say it's always important to never click on any unsolicited links or join unverified Facebook groups.

If you recognize a scam post, it's helpful to flag these to Facebook admin.