Oslo Bombing Video Is a Facebook Scam, Infecting 1 User Per Second [WARNING]
1 day ago by 43
In light of the bombing and shootings in Norway on Friday, it’s hard to believe that scammers would take advantage of such a tragic situation. But that’s just what’s happening on Facebook today, where a bogus post claims to link you to a video from an Oslo security camera showing the detonation of a car bomb near a Norwegian government building in which at least 10 people were killed.
The truth is, there was no security camera that captured such a video, at least as far as we know thus far. So if you see the following message on Facebook (pictured below): “[Video] OSLO Security Camera Captures Blast!”, don’t click on it, delete it from your Facebook feed, and report it to Facebook security. Help Net Security says the scam is infecting one user per second:
According to security firm Sophos, clicking on the link redirects victims off-site to a fake video player that mimics Facebook. They’re asked to take a survey, and then presented with an IQ test. After that, they’re asked to enter a mobile phone number that will charge the victim $2 per trivia question, four times per week. Ouch.
Facebook scams seem to be proliferating these days, preying on the curiosity or desires of unsuspecting victims. For instance, there was a Facebook Video Calling scam during a time of intense interest in the new feature two weeks ago, a particularly virulent scheme that lured users into clicking a link that spammed all their Facebook friends.
SEE ALSO: How to Avoid and Prevent Facebook Spam Patrik Runald, senior manager of security research at Websense told Help Net Security, “Criminals know how to take advantage of disasters and the hottest news items to get people to click on infected links. Tragedy is just one type of news that the bad guys use to exploit, compromise and infect your computer. Videos are an especially popular lure; we saw the same thing when Osama bin Laden died and when Casey Anthony was acquitted.
Other popular lures involve non-existent but widely desired Facebook features such as a Facebook “dislike button” scam, fake invites to Google+ and fake invitations to Google Music.
We’re always on the lookout for fakey Facebook behavior, so let us know if you see anything fishy. Is there no end to this needless duplicity? Is there any good news on this front? Although scams seem to be gaining popularity, spam decreased 82.22% over the past year
2011-07-25
Oslo Bombing Video Is a Facebook Scam
via mashable.com
