A fake video purporting to show missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 submerged in water has been branded a scam by greedy marketers wanting to cash in on the disaster.

The video, entitled ‘Newest Video: Malaysian Air Flight MH370 Found by Sailor Moments Ago,’ is circulating on Facebook as a ‘news’ article with the subtitle Mystery is Solved – Sailor Rewarded $5 Million on Spot.

The image which accompanies the article is actually a photo of US Airways Flight 1549, which crashed in the Hudson River in January 2009.

Once a victim clicks on to the link that comes with the video, the victim will be taken to a fake Facebook account stating the page must first be shared with Facebook friends before the user can watch the video.

“But, even if you did share as instructed, you would still not get to see the video” the team behind online scam watchdog Hoax-slayer.com said.

“After sharing, you will be told that you must complete a survey as a means of verifying your age. Alas, no matter how many surveys you complete, you will never get to see the promised video, which never existed to begin with.”

The scams are part of fraudulent marketing schemes aimed at generating money from the amounts of shares their Facebook pages create. The more people become victims and the more people share the video scam, the more their Facebook pages are being shared.

It is just one of many similar video scam messages that have targeted Facebook users.

“Be wary of any post that claims that you can see latest, breaking, or shocking video by clicking a link or video play button,” the Hoax-slayer.com team added.

-IBT