Category Archives: Giveaways

Are the scammers reading SMD?

…… well it would appear that they are!

After numerous posts where I questioned the sanity of trying to scam Facebook users by “giving away” hundreds of “prizes” this page popped up with a quite believable twelve laptops to give away (See the highlighted passage).15-05-2013-8-50-01-AM

Also there is no ridiculous reason for the give away as previously seen  in likewhore scams of this ilk such as, “we can’t sell them because they are unsealed.” This is also something that I have highlighted in several posts as signs of a con.

So the scammers are clearly reading the page (I feel so special – *waves “hi” to the scammers)

The clues to the scam are still there however, the page has only been open for a few days and this was the first, and only, post. True to form, as of this morning the account has disappeared. WHAT? before the July 1st prize draw date?  Naw shucks!

What I really found AMAZING about this is the person right at the bottom (under the arrow) who comments “Sounds like a scam to harvest FB users accounts. Prove me wrong.”  - BA BOW, unlucky chuamp. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it’s not likely to be an elephant.

I really can’t stress enough the importance of having a close look at these prize give away pages before “liking” or “sharing” anything. It only takes two seconds to visit the page and check out how long the page has been operating and how many posts they’ve made. Chances are; not very long and not very many.

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!

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!

….and STILL nothing comes for free :(

Remember last week with the bogus Apple page giving away iPhones that couldn’t be sold because they were “unsealed”, well a page has sprung up that, to us, looks veeeeeeeery familiar.

This time the “we’ve gone crazy and slashed all our prices to zero” warehouse claims to have 569 (Yupp! FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE) ghd hair straighteners to give away. All you have to do is like the page and photograph for a chance to win (Remember this phrase!)

The official ghd FB page posted this warning, the page and the giveaway are completely bogus. All you’ll win is a nasty rash for your PC.

TIP: These scams are fairly easy to spot. The sheer number of items that they claim to be giving away is sheer lunacy! What kind of business can afford to give away FIVE HUNDRED of anything just because the boxes are open?

Any page that has offers such as this are more often than not hooked up to that old “dodgy brothers” survey scam that takes your time, information and gives you zip, zilch, nada in return.

Remember that phrase that we told you remember? (read up, we’ll all wait for you!) Pages that offer prizes for “likes” should be avoided or at the very least treated with great suspicion.

 

Free iPhone/iPad for “Likes”

These “free” iPhone, iPad hoaxes continue to turn up on walls across the globe. Apply the old saying – NOTHING COMES FOR FREE.

The most recent one we saw reads;

freeiPhones“We have received 20 iPhone 5 16Gb but they can’t be sold because they aren’t sealed. For this reason, we are going to do a lottery using this page for people who share this photo and like this page.
Hit “Like this page” on top of the page !!
You must like this page AND share the picture if you want to be part of the lottery.

Choose a color in the comments.

Thank you all and good luck !”

It doesn’t even make sense, “can’t be sold because they aren’t sealed” – you can buy Brittney Spears’ breath on eBay but not an unsealed iPhone? We think not!

We know that some companies use giveaways to promote their sites or pages but usually there is only one prize.  A quick trip to the Free Apple Products page to find out that they only just joined Facebook gives us the distinct impression that “Free Apple Products” are bogus. DEBUNKED!