Scam about iPhone 5 Strikes Users of Facebook

Security researchers are alerting that users of Facebook require being extremely cautious about any advertisement for iPhone 5 on the social-networking website, thus published Itproportal.com in news on May 12, 2011.

Indeed the researchers caution of a web-link, called "First Exposure: iPhone 5" that's simply a fake which if clicked unleashes a malware program that's designed to spread onto other users.

Meanwhile, it was in May beginning 2011 that the malicious web-link emerged on Facebook while exploiting users' great enthusiasm in the upcoming iPhone. Apparently, the scam disguises as news web-link giving information about iPhone 5, which is obtainable from www.greatlakesnews.info. In reality, upon clicking this link, users get diverted onto a different website where they're supposed to respond to a CAPTCHA dialog box by entering a word.

But immediately on entering this word, everybody on the user's contact list gets a message that a comment from that user regarding the iPhone 5 has been posted. Thereafter, the users are directed for filling up an online survey questionnaire. Certainly, with this method, people are persuaded for visiting the web-link after a return comment comes from their friends.

The above method is also called clickjacking; however, it becomes even bad if it affects Facebook type of popular social-networking websites where there's a constant sharing of web-links.

Seemingly, in this instance, what's favorable is that anti-virus software may block the given file since such files typically are part of the Andware.Yontoo group of malicious software.

Security Researchers remark that these Facebook frauds are all common in that the technique used is the same viz. how scammers can through various tricks against users make money. Scams that use surveys have generally proved to be pretty effective; therefore it becomes apparent that scammers will concentrate on schemes like the pay-per-install campaigns.

Worryingly, this type of scam is not new on Facebook. Previously during 2011, a same type of iPhone web-link was found circulating online, although the current one is somewhat a changed form of the actual, the researchers lament.

Overall, Facebook advises users not to follow the web-links, despite them looking as coming from known sources.

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» SPAMfighter News - 5/21/2011