Facebook Work From Home Scam Debunked

These days, I have been seeing a spammy scam advertisement running on one of my browser tabs sometimes saying “Facebook Pays India Residents USD$257/day To Work From home” mocking fox news website with the published date as of today's.

This fake news was being propagated with the URL of website localnews247.net with a imposter look of an official news media website. This website also have a hacked image of an Indian family, fake proofs of payment checks and fake comments under the article to make the visitors fall for their filthy scam.

The webpage features a morphed image of Mark Zuckerberg’s team with a banner of text ‘Facebook work from home’ on their back along with the tag line in the bottom saying “As seen on CNN, The Star Online, NewStraitsTimes, BBC”.

Debunking the ‘Facebook Work From Home’  scam

Level 1 investigation: This webpage contains a family photo of the guy and his fake statements saying “All I had to do was browse the web and post links on other online sites. I also did some data entry work…”

When searched for the image on the internet on Google, it showed some Facebook profiles among which we actually can’t pick the genuine one. Take look at the following screenshot:

Also, the fake admitting of Mr.X in the photo says that he was asked to post links, share stories and review sites and some data entry work. He also says that anyone with basic computer skills can do this work and no other skill is needed.

Catch 1: Why would a company like Facebook releases a picture in the name of a guy who is totally fake?

Catch 2: Facebook has nothing to do with the posting links and sharing content on other websites and forums as there is no point of following such beginner strategy to promote themselves.

Catch 3: The date of the publishing of the news is found to be changing daily dynamically. But why? Is it to make it look fresh?

Catch 4: The fake check is found to be from ‘Amazon Services LLC’ instead of ‘Facebook’. Also, all the other details can be found as morphed upon keen observation.

Level 2 Investigation: We have tried to dig a little deeper about the details of this scam and found the following astonishing facts.

The title of the website localnews247.net is found to be registered as “How To Lose 18 lbs of Belly Fat in Just 1 Month With This 1 Diet Trick Celebrities Use” which was a yesterday’s scam that looted huge amounts of money all over the globe. However, when we tried to visit the website, it showed us ‘403 forbidden error’ which means that the website is no longer available for anyone(as people might have realized it a scam by then).

Catch 5: If the title of the website is found to be something that is related to dieting and fitness, how come the website not not load? and how come the sub-page of the website, the new Facebook scam is loading?

After knowing the true face of the title, we have tried to dig out the details using ‘WhoIs’ tool on the internet. This is what it showed:

Domain Name: LOCALNEWS247.NET
Registry Domain ID: 1641531904_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com
Registrar URL: www.enom.com
Updated Date:
Creation Date: 2011-02-22T12:27:00.00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-02-22T12:27:27.00Z
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 48

…

Catch 6: The expiration date of the domain is found to be 02-2015. If this program is real, how can you expect it to end within 3 upcoming months? (in reference to the catch 3). Doesn’t it conflict with the Catch 3 we have discussed earlier?

If we look at the details of ‘WhoIs’ information, we get some more information about the registrant of the website.

Domain Name: LOCALNEWS247.NET
Registry Domain ID: 1641531904_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com
Registrar URL: www.enom.com
Updated Date:
Creation Date: 2011-02-22T12:27:00.00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-02-22T12:27:27.00Z
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 48
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4252982646
Reseller: NAMECHEAP.COM
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Registrant Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Registrant Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Registrant City: PANAMA
Registrant State/Province: PANAMA
Registrant Postal Code: 00000
Registrant Country: PA
Registrant Phone: +507.8365503
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +51.17057182
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: B87F2227527C440CA4D8AFB1C2A6D763.PROTECT@WHOISGUARD.COM
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Admin Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Admin Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Admin City: PANAMA
Admin State/Province: PANAMA
Admin Postal Code: 00000
Admin Country: PA
Admin Phone: +507.8365503
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +51.17057182
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: B87F2227527C440CA4D8AFB1C2A6D763.PROTECT@WHOISGUARD.COM
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Tech Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Tech Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Tech City: PANAMA
Tech State/Province: PANAMA
Tech Postal Code: 00000
Tech Country: PA
Tech Phone: +507.8365503
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +51.17057182
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: B87F2227527C440CA4D8AFB1C2A6D763.PROTECT@WHOISGUARD.COM
Name Server: NS1.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
Name Server: NS2.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
Name Server: NS3.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
Name Server: NS4.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
DNSSEC: unSigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/

The registration link is totally different from this news published link. This is what it looks like: register.fbcdnindia.com

Catch 7: Let us consider that the news is published in a real website like fox news, but what is the need to elevate the topic for such a popular news channel in a promotional way along with how-to-register links in it?

We have tried to dig out details for the registration link that is specified above. These are the details we’ve got to know from ‘WhoIs’ information:

Domain Name: FBCDNINDIA.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1888502460_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com
Registrar URL: www.enom.com
Updated Date: 2014-12-03T10:07:33.00Z
Creation Date: 2014-12-03T18:07:00.00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-12-03T18:07:00.00Z
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 48

The registration domain is found to be registered in the month of March 2014 and it is going to expire in a year.

Catch 8: Why could a company like Facebook not register a domain for 5 years at least to work along with a business plan?

The information from ‘WhoIs’ shows more relevant information about registration link and the details are as follows:

Domain Name: FBCDNINDIA.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1888502460_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com
Registrar URL: www.enom.com
Updated Date: 2014-12-03T10:07:33.00Z
Creation Date: 2014-12-03T18:07:00.00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-12-03T18:07:00.00Z
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 48
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4252982646
Reseller: NAMECHEAP.COM
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Registrant Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Registrant Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Registrant City: PANAMA
Registrant State/Province: PANAMA
Registrant Postal Code: 00000
Registrant Country: PA
Registrant Phone: +507.8365503
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +51.17057182
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: A3278FE1D68B4F628A7FABF8C2FE4781.PROTECT@WHOISGUARD.COM
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Admin Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Admin Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Admin City: PANAMA
Admin State/Province: PANAMA
Admin Postal Code: 00000
Admin Country: PA
Admin Phone: +507.8365503
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +51.17057182
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: A3278FE1D68B4F628A7FABF8C2FE4781.PROTECT@WHOISGUARD.COM
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Tech Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Tech Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Tech City: PANAMA
Tech State/Province: PANAMA
Tech Postal Code: 00000
Tech Country: PA
Tech Phone: +507.8365503
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +51.17057182
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: A3278FE1D68B4F628A7FABF8C2FE4781.PROTECT@WHOISGUARD.COM
Name Server: NS1.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
Name Server: NS2.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
Name Server: NS3.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
Name Server: NS4.DIGITALOCEAN.COM
DNSSEC: unSigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/

The registrant of these domains is found to be linked up with another yesterday’s fraud business, domainspark.biz. All the P.O.Box addresses of the registrant are found to be same if you can observe from the ‘WhoIs’ information.

Level 3 Investigation: Later we’ve tried to investigate for the clues on the page and what we found are some naked facts. The comments below the news article are put to manipulate the judgment of the reader. In fact, they are not real comments nor even real Facebook profiles.

If we see the source code of the page, we can recognize them as fake profiles. Take a look at the following screenshots:

Also, the timestamps of the comments are found to be so recent and you can observe it on the source page.

Catch 9: What’s the need of placing fake comments for the article for a company like Facebook?

Over to you

Earning online is same as earning offline. You have to put the effort and time to make decent figures. Would you be paid just to walk-in and walk-out from your office building? Probably you’d never be. The same happens with working online too. Be careful with the scam programs and don’t waste your time and money on them.

Report to us if you found any such scam and we’ll debunk it and inform you the real fact and fiction!