Scammers Are Creating Fake Facebook Accounts Using The Names Of MH17 Victims

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MH17 Mourning

Samsul Said/REUTERS

Here's something to quickly deplete your faith in humanity: Scammers who hope to take advantage of internet users are creating fake Facebook pages using the names of victims who perished when MH17 was shot down over Ukraine last week.

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports there are six fake Facebook profile pages that were set up under the names of people who died in the tragedy, including pages for three of the young West Australian children killed.

Each of the fake pages links to a site that looks like it could give more information about the victims and the tragedy.

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When clicked, the Herald reports, "users are then hit with a series of pop-up ads for online gambling, get-rich-quick schemes, and other dubious products and services.

Some of the families of victims who have heard about the scams have gone so far as to delete the real Facebook accounts of the victims as to avoid confusion, but Facebook has yet to take action against any of the scam pages.

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You can read the Sydney Morning Herald's full report here.

[H/T Jezebel]