Identify Theft Rampant on Facebook – Beware of Fake Jobs
Fake job scams lead to identity theft and billions in losses to Americans.
You have probably seen the job listings on Facebook recently. “Driver needed. 35 hrs per week. $100,000”. “Anyone willing to work a night shift 8pm – 12am. $52hr. We have transportation”.
In reality, there are no “late shift” or “drivers needed” jobs. These are just the latest in “Imposter Scams” tracked by the Federal Trade Commission. In just the first and second quarters of 2022, Americans have lost over $1.3 billion dollars to scammers.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), in 2020, Texas reported 1,720 victims with a reported $4.5 million in losses. There were 69 victims in El Paso totaling $721,600 in losses. In El Paso, there were eight victims reporting $31,928 in losses. Midland/Odessa reported 10 incidents in 2020 totaling $71,500. The average reported loss was nearly $3,000 per victim, in addition to the damage to the victims’ credit scores.
The examples given above outline simply the entry point of this gigantic fraud scheme that can get quite intricate and encompassing.
A link is provided to a victim either through Facebook, Linked In, email, or Instant Messenger to a very legitimate-looking Job board, employer, or recruiter website. Occasionally, they are even (very sophisticated) spoofed versions of websites such as Indeed.com.
How they get you there is really not important, what’s important is that once you are there you will need to fill out the employment application … just as in every job you have ever applied for. Once you start typing your information you are already headed into the abyss.
In no time they will have just about everything they need to steal your identity. Name, address, phone number, email address. Work history…. Those are easy and most people will give that information away freely.
If you clicked on a link from Facebook they already have your social media account and will instantly start downloading your profile pictures or anything else they might need to create a “fake” account with your name on it. With that, they will spoof your friends. But YOU will be blocked so that you can’t see what they are doing.
When it comes to that “Driver” job … well for that you will, of course, have to enter your driver’s license number … “For insurance purposes” you are told. And of course, you will have to fill out the W4 form (giving them your social security number) in order to have the proper taxes deducted from your check, of course.
Once you are on the hook no matter what happens from here on out you are already a victim … you just don’t know it yet.
In some cases, they might just ghost you from this point forward. Walking away with your information and setting you up for identity theft and stealing every dime from you. Days later you are left wondering what ever happened to that job. When you try to contact them your inquiries go unanswered.
A few of them go even further.
They tell you that you will need to pay a small processing fee for the application. Or perhaps it is a referral fee to the recruiter. It might be a fee as low as $4.99 or as high as $24.99… or more. At this point, they may have already run your credit (and stored that information for later use) and figured out how much they think they can scam you. Once you agree to pay, now they also have at least one credit card.
From here they have full reign to do just about anything they want with your identity. But the latest scam, as reported in propublica.org is one that you might not even be aware of… Unemployment Insurance Fraud.
In February 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an Alert that stated that they had identified upwards of $5.4 billion in potentially fraudulent Unemployment Insurance benefits.
“A Bronx man allegedly received $1.5 million in just ten months. A California real estate broker raked in more than $500,000 within half a year. A Nigerian government official is accused of pocketing over $350,000 in less than six weeks.
What they all had in common, according to federal prosecutors, was participation in what may turn out to be the biggest fraud wave in U.S. history: filing bogus claims for unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.” writes, Cezary Podkul with Propublica.
By the time the jobless claims ended in September 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s inspector general estimates that at least $87 billion in fraudulent and improper payments will have been paid.
The Federal Trade Commission has stated that in 2021, “Government documents or benefits fraud” was the most prevalent type of identity theft case — more than 395,000 people reported that someone submitted a fraudulent government document under their name. This number represents a 70% spike over 2020 numbers.
So when you witness those seemingly benign Facebook posts about a “Driver needed” or “Late shift workers” be sure to not only report the post as Spam or Fraud but also block them.
The FBI recommends the following tips to protect yourself:
- Conduct a web search of the hiring company using the company name only. Results that return multiple websites for the same company (abccompany.com and abccompanyllc.com) may indicate fraudulent job listings.
- Legitimate companies will ask for PII and bank account information for payroll purposes AFTER hiring employees. This information is safer to give in-person. If in-person contact is not possible, a video call with the potential employer can confirm identity, especially if the company has a directory against which to compare employee photos.
- Never send money to someone you meet online, especially by wire transfer.
- Never provide credit card information to an employer.
- Never provide bank account information to employers without verifying their identity.
- Do not accept any job offers that ask you to use your own bank account to transfer their money. A legitimate company will not ask you to do this.
- Never share your Social Security number or other PII that can be used to access your accounts with someone who does not need to know this information.
- Before entering PII online, make sure the website is secure by looking at the address bar. The address should begin with “https://”, not “http://”.
- However: criminals can also use “https://” to give victims a false sense of security. A decision to proceed should not be based solely upon the use of “https://”.
Trump’s “UFO Files” Drop Lands With a Thud, Leaving Believers and Skeptics Equally Unsatisfied
Department of War – For years, UFO believers promised the truth was buried somewhere deep inside government vaults, hidden behind classified markings and decades of official denials. The long-awaited disclosure, they said, would prove humanity is not alone. So when the Trump administration released a major archive of UFO-related material this week, anticipation exploded across social media and conspiracy circles alike. The result, however, landed with all the excitement of opening a mystery safe only to discover it filled with newspaper clippings, hobby magazines, and blurry photos of distant lights in the sky.
The files were released through the federal archive portal at www.WAR.GOV/UFO Files and include videos, audio recordings, witness statements, correspondence, and archival documents connected to unidentified flying objects, now often called unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs.
The website also prominently features a statement from Donald Trump posted from Truth Social:
“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
The Department of War website also states that additional material will continue to be released on a weekly basis, suggesting the current archive represents only the first phase of a broader disclosure effort. That announcement has kept many UFO enthusiasts hopeful that more substantial evidence could still emerge in future document dumps.
For now, however, the initial release appears to contain little that fundamentally changes the public understanding of UFO phenomena.
Despite years of sensational claims about craft performing maneuvers that supposedly “defy physics,” none of the videos included in the archive appear to show anything close to that. The objects captured on camera are consistently small, far away, and moving in mostly straight lines at what appear to be ordinary, subsonic speeds. There are no impossible right-angle turns, no instantaneous acceleration, no sudden stops, and no visible flight characteristics beyond what could plausibly be explained by conventional objects or optical effects.
File: DOD_111688964 – Taken 2024-06-01 – The United States Northern Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of 21 seconds of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2024. An accompanying mission report, DoW-UAP-D8, described the UAP as consisting of an object with a vertical pole or bar attached to the bottom of the object. The observer also reported that the UAP may instead be a reflection from an object in the water.
Most of the footage consists of little more than bright shiny objects against the sky, filmed from such extreme distances that meaningful identification becomes nearly impossible. A few clips appear consistent with balloons or commercial drones. Others show glowing or reflective orbs with no discernible structure or detail. None of the material independently verifies the extraordinary claims often promoted by UFO media personalities and internet commentators.
The release arrives after years of mounting public fascination with UFOs. Congressional hearings, Pentagon acknowledgements of unexplained aerial sightings, and endless online speculation helped create expectations that the government might eventually reveal evidence of non human intelligence. Those expectations likely contributed to the enormous interest surrounding this document dump.
But much of the archive reads less like disclosure and more like an oversized collection of unresolved anecdotes and cultural memorabilia. Witness statements describe strange lights, odd movements, and unusual sightings, but almost none are supported by physical evidence, radar tracking, or technical analysis capable of independent verification. Some are handwritten personal accounts submitted decades ago by ordinary citizens reporting mysterious experiences investigators apparently could neither confirm nor explain.
A surprisingly large portion of the collection focuses on civilian UFO enthusiast organizations that published magazines and newsletters dedicated to sightings and theories about alien life. Rather than classified military revelations, many files simply document the activities of hobbyist groups fascinated by UFO culture during the Cold War era and beyond.
The archive also includes letters from school children asking the government whether flying saucers and aliens are real. While historically interesting as a reflection of American pop culture and public curiosity, the letters offer no evidentiary value regarding extraterrestrial life. Some of the material feels more appropriate for a museum exhibit on twentieth century UFO fascination than for a headline generating government disclosure project.
NASA related recordings and footage included in the release similarly failed to produce dramatic revelations. Most involve routine aerospace operations, ambiguous observations, or discussions about unidentified objects without any conclusion that they originated from beyond Earth. NASA has consistently maintained there is no confirmed evidence of alien visitation, and nothing in this release appears to alter that position.
Reaction online quickly shifted from excitement to frustration. Some UFO believers claimed the truly important files are still hidden behind classification barriers and that the public release was carefully sanitized before publication. Skeptics argued the archive merely reinforces what critics have long maintained, that UFO mythology survives largely because blurry footage and incomplete information allow people to project extraordinary conclusions onto ordinary phenomena.
Notably absent from the release are the kinds of materials long promised in sensational documentaries and conspiracy forums. There are no recovered alien craft, no biological specimens, no authenticated extraterrestrial communications, and no government memos admitting contact with non human intelligence. More importantly, there is no footage of any object displaying flight characteristics that genuinely challenge known physics.
That disconnect between public expectation and documented reality may ultimately be the biggest story.
For decades, UFO culture has operated on the assumption that earth shattering proof exists just beyond public reach. Every blurry light becomes a possible spacecraft. Every vague government statement fuels another round of speculation. Entire media industries now thrive on the promise that disclosure is always right around the corner.
Yet when the files finally arrived, they mostly revealed what Americans have seen for generations, distant lights, uncertain observations, stories without proof, and a government willing to catalog mystery without necessarily solving it.
Perhaps future weekly releases from the Department of War will contain something more compelling. But if this first archive is any indication, Americans waiting for undeniable proof of alien visitation may need to lower their expectations considerably.
VIDEO
PENTAGON – United States Central Command released a new operational update on Operation Epic Fury. In a March 11 briefing, U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper addressed the public with the latest details on the rapidly developing mission. Speaking on behalf of the command, Cooper outlined current military actions, operational goals, and the strategic posture of U.S. forces in the region. The update offers a rare inside look at how CENTCOM is executing Epic Fury, and what commanders say comes next as the operation continues to unfold.
Iran – The bombs started falling in the Middle East, and within minutes the internet detonated with something just as explosive, a tidal wave of fake war footage across social media.
Scroll through Facebook, X or Instagram and you will see burning U.S. bases. Iranian missiles blasting American jets from the sky. Satellite images of destroyed radar installations. Clever Iranian tricks of a painted airplane silhouette – supposedly humiliating the Pentagon.
Much of it never happened.
Since the United States began striking Iranian targets, the online world has been flooded with fake accounts, AI-generated videos, manipulated satellite imagery, and viral propaganda posts designed to shape global opinion about the conflict. Analysts say the scale of the deception campaign marks one of the first major wars where artificial intelligence is being weaponized at industrial scale in the information space.
Millions Watching Fake War
The misinformation explosion began almost immediately after the strikes.
Researchers monitoring social media say fabricated videos of the war have accumulated tens of millions of views before fact-checkers could intervene. Some clips claimed to show Iranian missile strikes destroying American aircraft or warships.
One particularly dramatic video circulating online showed an Iranian missile destroying a U.S. aircraft in midair. The footage went viral, racking up tens of millions of views, before investigators determined it had been generated entirely using artificial intelligence.
Other viral clips were not even AI. They were lifted from military video games.
A widely shared video claiming to show a U.S. warship shooting down an Iranian fighter jet was eventually traced to gameplay footage from the combat simulation game War Thunder. The clip gained more than seven million views online before being exposed as fictional.
Experts say the tactic works because viewers often encounter these clips in emotionally charged moments, when verification is the last thing on their minds.
The Fake Account Armies
The deception is not random.
Investigators have uncovered organized networks of fake or hacked social media accounts pushing fabricated war footage to millions of users.
In one case uncovered by platform X, at least 31 coordinated accounts were allegedly operated by a man in Pakistan and used to spread AI-generated war videos related to the U.S. strikes on Iran.
Many of the accounts impersonated journalists or eyewitnesses. Some posed as residents near battle zones. Others claimed to be military observers.
By pretending to be on-the-ground witnesses, propagandists can trick audiences into believing fabricated videos are authentic breaking news.
Researchers say this kind of deception campaign is increasingly common during international conflicts, where online narratives can influence global opinion as quickly as military developments.
AI Is Now Faking Satellite Evidence
Perhaps the most alarming development is the manipulation of satellite imagery.
In several viral posts circulating online, images appeared to show U.S. military installations destroyed by Iranian strikes. The images looked convincing, complete with blast craters and damaged buildings.
Investigators later discovered some of the satellite images were AI-altered or entirely fabricated.
One widely shared image, promoted by Iranian media outlets, claimed to show a devastated U.S. radar installation in Qatar. Analysts later determined the image had been digitally manipulated using artificial intelligence.
Experts warn that satellite images are particularly powerful propaganda tools because they appear technical and authoritative.
People tend to trust them without question.
Viral Claims Iran Is Tricking U.S. Satellites
Another category of viral propaganda has taken a different approach, mockery.
Images circulating across social media show large silhouettes of drones and aircraft painted onto the ground inside Iran. The accompanying posts claim Iranian forces created fake targets to trick American satellites.
The narrative accompanying the images is clear and deliberate. According to the viral captions, U.S. intelligence supposedly identifies the fake aircraft as real targets, allowing Iran to make the United States waste millions of dollars destroying empty patches of dirt.
The posts typically end with the same message, Iran is clever, the United States is foolish.
But military historians say the narrative leaves out a key fact. This never happened…the images are Photoshop or A.I..
The deception, to the viewers, is effective because decoys, camouflage, and deception have been standard military tactics for centuries. Inflatable tanks, fake airfields, and painted aircraft silhouettes were used extensively during World War II and are taught in military academies around the world. So the accusations seem plausible…and the fake images seal the deal.
The propaganda lies not in the existence of decoys, but in the framing designed to humiliate the United States and elevate Iran’s image.
State Actors Fuel the Propaganda War
Analysts say the information battlefield is being shaped by a mix of actors.
State-backed propaganda networks have circulated exaggerated claims about Iranian military success, while foreign influence operations have amplified misleading narratives to undermine confidence in American military power. Anti-semite groups capitalize on the opportunity to take swipes at Israel. Democrat operatives live for the opportunity to make President Trump, or Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, look like a fool.
Researchers studying the phenomenon say the goal is not always to persuade people of a single lie. Instead, the objective is chaos & uncertainty.
Flood the internet with so many competing claims, fake videos, and manipulated images that ordinary people simply stop trusting anything they see.
Opinion: America Is Losing the Information Battlefield
Facts first. Now the uncomfortable truth.
The United States may dominate the skies militarily, but in the information war raging across social media, the battlefield is far murkier.
Artificial intelligence has democratized propaganda. What once required vast intelligence agencies, professional studios, and technical expertise can now be created by anyone with a laptop and the right software.
The viral posts mocking American intelligence over painted decoys illustrate the strategy perfectly. A centuries-old military tactic becomes a viral story about Iranian brilliance and American incompetence.
The objective is not accuracy. The objective is perception.
Every fake video of a burning U.S. base, every manipulated satellite image, every anonymous account posting dramatic “battle footage” pushes the same narrative, America is losing, Iran is winning, and nothing you see can be trusted.
And when truth becomes impossible to separate from fiction, propaganda has already won.
The missiles may be flying over the Middle East.
But the real war for public perception is raging on your phone screen.
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