Public Safety Warns of Social Media Scam
Mankato-Public Safety warns that a series of scams have been circulating on social media using #Mankato and/or #Minnesota. These posts share false information about injured people or pets, lost children and alleged thefts. People share the post thinking they are helping; however, once that post is shared, it’s edited to go to another site, such as a rental ad, survey link or information about a cash prize. This places the user and whomever they shared the post with at risk for identity theft or financial fraud.
To help determine if the post is a scam, Public Safety advises to review the poster’s profile and look for:
- Comments that are turned off.
- Few to no friends or followers.
- Lack of information.
- Length of time account has been on social media platform.
Other ways to verify whether or not the post is fake:
- Copy and paste the text in an online search engine.
- Upload the photo(s) to reverse image online search engine to see where else the photo has been used.
If a scam is suspected, contact Public Safety at 911 or 507-387-8725.
