Scam warning: BREAKING NEWS - Leaked Video of Casey Anthony CONFESSING to Lawyer!
Facebook scammers are once again trying to pique your curiosity by using suggestive terms and promises of a confession video. Just like with previous scams, they are leveraging Facebook with sensational headlines to target ignorant victims.
This version says something along the lines of "BREAKING NEWS - Leaked Video of Casey Anthony CONFESSING to Lawyer!" followed by a link and then a description like "Click To See - She can't be re-tried, double jeopordy.. OJ all over again!" According to Sophos, the link unsurprisingly wants you to spread the content (it tells you to "Jaa" it, which means "Share" in Finnish) to your Facebook friends and family.
The scammers' goal is to drive more traffic towards their online surveys by innocently asking you to verify your age. Some may believe they will see a video at the end (the page in question pretends to be YouTube), but they won't. This is how the scammer earns his or her money: a commission for every survey completed. Ultimately, the scammers simply point you to a TV news report of Casey Anthony being told she is not guilty of murder.
As I've recommended before, if you see a scam like this one, report it. Then go check your own wall to make sure you're not spreading the scam; the sooner you clean it up and unlike the page, the better. You can even contact Facebook Security if you'd like to.
For those who don't know, here is a little background on why spammers are leveraging this particular story. Caylee Marie Anthony (August 9, 2005 – c. June 16, 2008) was a child from Orlando, Florida, who disappeared in June 2008 and whose skeletal remains were discovered on December 11, 2008. She was reported missing by her grandmother, Cindy Anthony, but her mother, Casey Anthony, failed to report her missing, and maintained that Caylee died accidentally by drowning in the family swimming pool.
On July 5, 2011, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child abuse. She was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. On July 7, 2011, she was sentenced to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines for each count, but with credit for time served and good behavior, her release date was set for July 17, 2011. The case received national media attention in the US, with newspapers and magazines calling it "one of the biggest ratings draws in recent memory" and "the social media trial of the century".