Monthly Archives: March 2013

ATTENTION girls AND ladies, are “gangs” getting smarter?

new-gangNope, and neither are some FB users.

This one was lovingly sent in from the pages of Kerry.

We’ve had empty baby seats left in the road, eggs and rocks thrown at car windscreens  and now crying little boys with nothing other than an address on a bit of paper.

Seriously?

Talk about far fetched! This warning doesn’t contain enough detail to be legit. It doesn’t even say what country these supposed “attacks” took place in, there are no details to speak of at all in fact. Combined with a dubious use of English; this one is a straightforward BA BOW!

Please apply some common sense before blindly re-posting these ridiculous warnings.

DEBUNKED

Are hackers posting porn on your FB page without your knowledge?

This one bent my brain a little but thanks to Kellee on FB for forwarding this one to us.

It appears that there is a hint of truth in this one. It goes back to 2011 when this first reared it’s head. It was initially reported as a hoax  but after many users continued to report posts like this it was looked into again.

Basically, back in 2011 nasty pasty hackers were getting access to unwitting users accounts by tricking them into cut/paste an internet code called Javascript into their browsers which then allowed the hackers to control the site that the user was interacting with. I want to say here in red & bold because it’s serious;

Do not ever, EVER! cut and paste any kind of code from Webpages or FB pages into your Web browser.

They will try to trick you by offering prizes or the chance to see “some celebrity doing something video/images”; there is no such prize or video;

Do not ever, EVER! EVER! cut and paste any kind of code from Webpages or FB pages into your Web browser.

Anywho, back to the story; It transpires that once the hacker had control of your FB account they posted (fake) images of Bieber (why do they always use this annoying midget??) engaging in some hardcore man love and naked grannies and so on, onto your wall.

Rumours surrounding this attack were linked to various groups like Anonymous back in 2011, but were never confirmed.

Facebook got onto the problem and found the security problem was with certain Web browsers (I’m not saying that IE was a culprit – because I don’t know that for sure – but I BET you that it was!)  and released a statement saying,

“Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us, and we are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove material that violates our terms. Recently, we experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability. Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible.

During this spam attack users were tricked into pasting and executing malicious javascript in their browser URL bar causing them to unknowingly share this offensive content. Our engineers have been working diligently on this self-XSS vulnerability in the browser. We’ve built enforcement mechanisms to quickly shut down the malicious Pages and accounts that attempt to exploit it. We have also been putting those affected through educational checkpoints so they know how to protect themselves. We’ve put in place backend measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defenses to find new ways to protect people.”

Which basically means that they found the main problem was with certain browsers but fixed it from their end.

NOTE: The issue with browsers has since been fixed and security updates have been sent: another reason you should always keep your browser updated.

NOW …… That is the end of the history lesson.

The current warning that is circulating FB (an example is pictured but we’ve seen a few other versions) is more than likely a fake, a simple scam by 484757_567934649904281_1533185397_nlikewhores to increase the reputation of their page.

My advice; instead of spreading this message and potentially furthering the cause of those who only want to mess up the joint, protect your account from these attacks. NEVER cut/paste code into your browser (I may have mentioned that previously!), ALWAYS  keep your browser updated, NEVER install unknown apps that request to “post on your behalf” and uninstall any apps that do have permission, NEVER get sucked into clicking on the “OMG you wont believe it” video links and finally, if you do see something that looks sus, report it to Facebook and the friend in question so that they can secure their account.

Happy internetting!

The tale of “Lauren” and the unmarked police car.

Many thanks to our FB friend Erin for sending in this one.

The story goes that “Lauren” is driving home when an unmarked police car attempts to pull her over. Wiley “Lauren” knows better than to pull over on a  deserted road and calls 112 and speaks to the police who say that there are no umarked cars in pursuit and promptly arrive and arrest the “convicted rapist”.

I traced this story back to 2001 when “Lauren” lived in Virginia, USA and she also pops up in Dorset, UK in 2006,   Ontario, Canada in 2010 and now in Australia twelve years later.

Snopes.com investigated the original claim in 2001 and could find no police reports/arrest records that matched this account.

Either “Lauren” is one hell of a well travelled and incredibly unlucky girl or this is a big fat hoax! I should point out that by this I refer to the current, 12 year old, somewhat altered from the original, version – the origins and it’s truth remain neither bunked nor debunked.

rozzers

The story does offer some good advice about unmarked police cars, there is documented evidence of nasty pasties pretending to be police to commit crime. Although you are obliged to pull over to unmarked police cars you also have the right to do so in a “safe place” and should call the emergency number of your country  if you have any doubts.

Regardless, “Lauren” and the fake dibble in 2013, in Australia – DEBUNKED!

Bananas – The Swiss Army knife of the fruit world?

Growing up in the early 90′s the latest craze was getting high from banana peels (also debunked btw!) Over the years bananas have been used for various tasks. Demonstrating how to put on condoms, chimp bait, and explosives amongst them.

So, when I was sent a message currently circulating social media (thanks Lucy :) ) regarding bananas and their ability to whiten teeth I was intrigued. It sounded like bunkum but; bananas, they can do anything, right?

banana-teeth-whiteningI did a bit of research and it appears that the post is a regular on Pintrest (which, naturally, swings me towards thinking it’s nonsense) and although there are lots of articles around the interwebnets espousing the benefits of bananas for tooth whitening they are not quite the kinds of sites we look to to find the truth about things. Also they appear to be referencing each other (dubious). So we moved onto the science of it.

It appears that potassium nitrate, although present in tooth whitening products is in fact added (along with fluoride) to, ” help reduce tooth sensitivity side effects.” Chandler. The whitening agent in the products being carbamide peroxide.  A 2001 paper by the Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto confirms this.

After I conducted all this deep, lengthy, scientific research I found an article by Sarah Jio on Glamour.com who tested it herself and debunked it so I shouldn’t have bothered!

Oh, also have a butchers hook at this Website for laser tooth whitening, it’s one of at least four that use this image – recognise the smile? (Bet you thought I’d missed that!)

We’re calling this one debunked!

The “It’s only going to happen once every EIGHT HUNDRED years” scam

or as we like to call it – It’s going to happen another two times in the next ten years!

calendar

Yes we’re talking about the fact that this year (2013) March contains two Friday’s, two Saturdays and two Sundays (pretty cool indeed!)

BUT (yes, there’s always a but!) contrary to the message currently being passed around quicker than head lice at a kindergarten it is NOT the only time in our lifetime that we will see it. Unless, of course, you die before 2019, which is when it happens again (also in March) … aaaaaaand again in 2024.

We could post pictures of calendars to prove our point but it’s much more fun if you do it for yourself.

The message also suggest that by passing the message on you’ll be ensuring that a financial windfall will come you way (cue enormous eye roll). Quite frankly any message that claims that you’ll get money, sex, love, good luck, ANYTHING just by passing on a Facebook message does not deserve any more time than a passing pffffft! All you’ll guarantee is that some likewhore (a term that we did not coin but deeply love!) will get great figures for their seedy FB page.

Do not like, do not share, do not comment on these bogus posts. It’s the only way they’ll stop :)

DEBUNKED!

Don’t Hit The Panic Button Yet!

panic-buttonThis post (below) was sent to us by friends of SMD.

After doing a touch of scratching round the underbelly of the interwebs we found that this type of “account cloning” is quite easy to pull off. However, it is not “new,” as the post claims, thatsnonsense.com suggests it’s been around for a number of years. We could not find any credible sources that say that this type of cyber attack is increasing in popularity.

 

So, how does this work? Glad you asked!

A nasty pasty cuts and pastes your profile image into a bogus account and then posts to all of the friends on your friend list saying that you are locked out of your original account (or in one ironic twist that we quite liked – that your original account had been hacked by clioning-panicpirates – you have to award points for a sense of humour!) and that they should switch over to this (the bogus) account. Once they have done so they are primed and ready to receive all kinds of spam and nonsense.

You don’t suffer any bad effects, apart from maybe losing a few FB friends and maybe a few real life friends who’re annoyed at all the rubbish you’ve been sending them on FB.

Ways to avoid it – You can’t stop them using your photo – that’s out there in internetland. What you can do is stop the pirates from seeing your friend list. On your profile (timeline) page go to your friends list and click on the “edit” button at the top. In the pop-up box that pops up (as they do!) change the setting to “only me” so no-one can see your list of friends. Easy Peasy!

We’re calling this one a Henny Penny (since we can’t use the more the modern version any more – Stupid Disney!) The threat is real, albeit small, and it’s always wise to take steps to protect yourself and your friends – but the sky certainly isn’t falling in!

Fake FB Pages offering free consoles to “BETA testers”

There are a few of these bogus pages springing up in Facebook land. They suck in gamers with the chance to test new games consoles and keep the console once the test is complete.

The example we’ve used here is for XBox 720 but we’ve seen pages for Playstation 4 and others.

xbox_720

These pages are completely bogus, the initial “likes” are from other bogus accounts and are merely a way for spammers to get a large number of “likes” or “shares” from genuine Facebook users. In turn their bogus page looks legit and seems popular so the spammers can spread even more of their evil spam.

Please stop “liking” “sharing” and commenting on these pages even if your just curious, as Craig Charles Haley of thatsnonsense.com puts it,

“You don’t need to put your hand in the fire to see if you get burnt. These giveaway Pages are never going to be genuine. Authentic competitions are only promoted by the official Fan Pages of the merchants running them. Don’t be responsible for passing this nonsense on to your friends. Remember, on social networking sites like Facebook we all rely on each other to help keep us safe and one person sharing spam can expose their friends to danger.“

By interacting with these sites you’re exposing yourself and all of your friends to all kinds of internet nasties. DON’T DO IT!

DEBUNKED!

(Not even nearly) Back in Black …. or pink or red or ……….

ImageYou’ve more than likely seen this in one form or another sometime since 2012 when it seems to have started. This (image) is the latest in a loooooong line of “change the colour of your Facebook” scams. These are boloney! The links lead to survey scams that use your information to make you a perfect target for further spam campaigns or to Websites that install plugins to your computer without your permission (and trust me, these plugins are VERY hard to find and delete!

 

As always, use common sense and be careful what you click!

DEBUNKED!

Yet another “celebrity” death

Happily “celebrities” don’t die in real life nearly as often as they do on social media. Who’d go on all the crappy reality TV shows if there were no out of work “celebrities” (but that’s a rant for another blog and another day!)

This time it’s WWE sports entertainer and action movie “actor” John Cena. It was reported last week that Cena had died in a “single vehicle car crash” which is shockingly similar  EXACTLY the same as the Bieber hoax that

John-Cena-Dies-In-Car-Crash

whipped teeny boppers across the globe into a frenzy the previous week. In fact the image of the car on it’s roof is the same photo we saw in the Bieber story.

We reckon the hoaxers need to get a touch more imaginative. Why not, “Cena dies attempting body slam from eighth storey window.” Or something more interesting.

DEBUNKED!