Facebook scammers are once again exploiting a celebrity’s death. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the target; he passed away yesterday, and just like many before him, within hours his death was being exploited.
This version says something along the lines of “In memory of Steve, a company is giving out 50 ipads tonight. R.I.P. Steve Jobs” followed by a link. There are obviously no free iPads, as Sophos points out.
The link goes through the bit.ly service: bit.ly/restinpeace-steve-jobs and thankfully the company has shut it down. Unfortunately, at least 15,000 individuals clicked on it before bit.ly could react.
This is likely just the beginning of scams that will try to make money from Jobs’ death. Please stay away from them and try to limit your link-clicking to reputable websites that don’t claim they will give you something for free.
The scammers’ goal is to drive more traffic towards certain sites. This is how the scammer earns his or her money: a commission for every survey completed, every product purchased, and/or every account compromised. They also use them to spread malware and obtain personal information.
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.
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