This video does not show MH17 crash footage

A video circulating online claims to show dramatic footage of the final moments of ill-fated Malaysian Airlines flight 17.

The Video is Real, but it is not of flight 17

Only hours after reports began streaming in about the downed aircraft, video surfaced purporting to show the craft hitting the ground. See the video below.

One Facebook caption for the video above describes it as “Ukraine plane crash.”

The video actually shows dash cam footage of a 747 cargo plane which crashed in Afghanistan in 2013. It was determined that the plane crashed due to a weight problem when straps holding 16-ton MRAP vehicles broke, shifting the plane’s balance and sending it into a nosedive. All seven crew members were killed.

Survey Scam

The same footage of the cargo plane crash has also been circulating online as part of a survey scam. This scam promises to show “Actual footage” of the missile strike which downed MH17. When users click on the fake video link, they are taken to a website which tells them that they need to share the video in order to watch it. After sharing, users are then required to answer survey questions before viewing the video.

Eventually, readers will realize that there is no end to the survey questions and that no video will actually be shown. By that time, they – and several of their friends – will have shared the fake video link. The thumbnail for the fake video is often that of the cargo crash above.

Bottom Line

Videos claiming to show the final moments of flight MH17 are fake. Footage from a cargo plane crash in 2013 has been used to lure people into liking and sharing video unrelated to the Malaysian Airlines disaster. Currently, the only known footage of MH17 appears to be moments after it hit the ground.