Breaking…Justin Bieber to E! Online “I’m a gay”!

Twitter’s social media site has the most outrageous headlines when it comes to leaking spam.  Social networks have an abundance of  cybercriminals living among them.  With young people obsessed with pop culture as if their life depended on it, big news stories drive thousands of views per minute to these social media sites informed with celebrity gossip. So it’s difficult for anyone to spot whats real and what is a scam containing malware.

The average Twitter user has tweeted 307 times.  With around 51 followers and 32% of all Internet users are using Twitter. (source: Marketing Land)

Photo Credit: Mashable

For instance: A friend just tweeted about Justin Bieber, you love Just  Bieber!  You read and re-tweet to your friends, now your circle is being infected by malware and the source came from you, which came from your friend that you and everyone else trusted.

ESET Security Evangelist Stephen Cobb says, “Can we trust our friends not to make questionable decisions on social media? Apparently not, because our friends might actually be scamers in disguise, or just not well-informed.”

ESET’s Social Media Scanner provides a quick, free way to check news stories on Facebook and Twitter to see if it’s a scam or not.  Here are some scams that should never be clicked on.

1.  The story people share without reading

“Breaking! Exclusive: Justin Bieber to E! online ‘I’m a gay’”  – This is an instance where the subject line was so outrageous that everyone wants to get it out there and share.  This article was re-tweeted 1,200 times, with 69% of tweets coming from friends, this one was a big hit.

2.  Your friend thinks they are a news reporter

If you see a big news story posted by your friend and haven’t heard of it anywhere else, be suspicious.  Big news usually spreads like a wildfire.  Facebook and Twitter malware often spread as shocking news to attract readers.  Scammers use viral pages to build up thousands of likes, then sell the pages to other companies.

3.  Posts about miracle diets

There are so many people on a diet, thinking about dieting, or have previously dieted.  In order to grab readers,  tons of  “amazing weight loss” and “miracle diet” spam mail are out there.  Earlier this summer, Instagram was attacked by the fruit spam mail.  BBC news page headlined, “Tropical Fruit Burns 17 Pounds in 22 Days. Exclusive Offer for Readers,” the images linked to a bogus paged disguised by a short url.

4.  The friend who sends you a gift card

These little surprises can be costly to your pocketbook.  When these gift cards arrive, the “free gift” gets people excited and they are enticed to open the “gift cards”  immediately.  Rarely are they from anyone you know, the gift is a scam and you just handed over personal details and downloaded malware onto your computer.

So be careful on what “Hot News” you click on, you may be compromising yourself and your closest friends.
Have you experienced this scam before?  Please feel free to share your experience below.

References:
Justin Bieber’s AMAZING diet: Five social posts you should never click – We Live Security
http://www.welivesecurity.com/2013/08/15/justin-biebers-amazing-diet-five-social-posts-you-should-never-click/
August 15, 02013
20 Twitter Stats From 2012 – MediaBistro
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-stats_b32050

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