A photo which has been tweeted thousands of times on Twitter shows a plane submerged in the water, offering “breaking news” that Malaysian Airlines flight 370 had been found.

It’s a scam.

The plane in the photo is not a Boeing 777. The real story behind this image is that of a small plane which crashed into a shallow lagoon near San Francisco Bay in September 2010. Three people in that crash were killed.

Scammers have flooded social media with images such as the one above with fake “breaking news” accounts, stating that the missing Malaysian aircraft has been found.

These fake accounts, however, are often just a front for a variety of deceptive purposes. Some are seeking more social media likes, while others are survey scammers. They often pose as real news sites with “breaking news” headlines and the same graphics as the real news organizations.

In some cases, they will ask you to download software to view a non-existent video. Other times they may ask you to like and share before you can watch the video – which you will never see because it does not exist.

Bottom Line

The photo above is clearly not the missing Boeing 777, but a small craft which crashed into a lagoon in 2010. If you see the photo above with “breaking news” regarding MH 370, it is a ploy to get you to like a page, fill out a survey, or spread some other form of malicious software.