Facebook Scam Leads to Adware
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 06/11/2015 09:17 AM
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Following an accident at Alton Towers – a theme and water park in the United Kingdom, a Facebook scam has emerged that purports to show video footage of the accident. Be aware that this is a scam.
The workings of the scam are pretty simple. If you click on the post hoping to see the accident, you will be taken to a fake YouTube site. Once there, you will be directed to post a link to the video on your Facebook timeline.
Once you post it to your timeline, you will be directed to a site that asks you to download a video player update in order to see the video.
The downloaded file contains adware, that display advertisements and collects information about your browsing habits. The crooks almost certainly make money by getting a percentage of all sales on these third party ads you will be seeing in your browser.
If you click on a post that tells you to download a plugin or update to watch the video, exit the page immediately.
Source: Avira
The workings of the scam are pretty simple. If you click on the post hoping to see the accident, you will be taken to a fake YouTube site. Once there, you will be directed to post a link to the video on your Facebook timeline.Once you post it to your timeline, you will be directed to a site that asks you to download a video player update in order to see the video.
The downloaded file contains adware, that display advertisements and collects information about your browsing habits. The crooks almost certainly make money by getting a percentage of all sales on these third party ads you will be seeing in your browser.
If you click on a post that tells you to download a plugin or update to watch the video, exit the page immediately.
Source: Avira
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