Be Aware of Scams Across Hudson Valley Facebook Timelines

We have to be more aware when it comes to sharing certain posts on social media. Have you fallen for one of these Facebook "scams?" I know I have.

Facebook Scam Takes Over Hudson Valley Timelines

Social media has its pros and its cons. We have all been becoming more wary of fraudulent posts and scams across all social media platforms.

As an animal lover, I understand wanting to help people spread the word about missing pets in the Hudson Valley. A great source for legitimate missing animal posts is Lost Pets of The Hudson Valley.

With that being said, recently I've seen fake posts being shared about injured animals in different towns across the Hudson Valley. This week, the scam post has been about a collie-like dog, who was hit by a car and the original poster was looking for the dog's owners.

I'd share a screenshot of the post, but because it's spam, over the last few days it has changed to a post about an apartment listing.

Last year, the big scam post was catalytic converters being stolen in the Hudson Valley and photos of the alleged thief. The only problem is that in many of the photos, palm trees were in the background. Which, we obviously don't have here in the Hudson Valley.

How To Determine If a Facebook Post is a Scam

Listen I'm no social media professional or scam detective, but I know a fake post when I see one.

Many of these scam posts are found in Facebook groups that are directed towards certain towns. For instance, I've seen several shared scam posts from Facebook groups with Yard Sale in the name and several exclamation points that look something like this:

The post will go on to pull at your heart strings using children, senior citizens or pets to get your attention.

From what I'm seeing, there are some actual posts from real Hudson Valley locals in the group. However, many of the posts are from bot accounts. To determine if the post is legitimate, click on the name of the person posting. If it says they just joined the group that week and only have 1 post in the group (that being the scam post) it's probably a bot.