Tens of thousands of social media users are sharing photos of text messages from a phishing scam, claiming that they are linked to sex trafficking. This appears to be false. While the texts do appear to be scams, U.S. police departments told Reuters that there is no evidence to suggest they are linked to sex trafficking.
Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt
The viral posts ( here , here , here ), show photos of a text message sent out in the phishing scam, which invites the recipient to click a link in order to confirm delivery of a pending package. One post is captioned “THIS IS A SEX TRAFFICIKING TEXT”, another is accompanied by the hashtag #SaveOurChildren.
Other examples include screenshots of a Facebook post which says, “ladies, I saw that if you get a text message like this that it’s used in sex trafficking. If you click the link it’ll allow them to track you”. The post has since been edited to say it doesn’t seem like it is linked to sex trafficking because of the amount of people getting the same message (here).
Several police departments in different U.S. states have issued warnings about this scam, with photos matching those in the social media posts, including Albert Lea Police Department in Minnesota (here), Richland Police Department, Washington (here), Spanish Fort Police Department, Alabama, (here), Christian County Sheriff’s Office, Kentucky, (here) and Oak Bluffs Police Department, Massachusetts (here).
Facebook users who say they clicked on the link in these claims were redirected to pages saying they had been selected to win a prize, such as an iPhone or an Apple laptop, or that they woul ..
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