Twilight ‘Breaking Dawn’ scam spreading rapidly on Facebook, Sophos warns
Announcement posted by Sophos 12 Apr 2011
Twilight ‘Breaking Dawn’ scam spreading rapidly on Facebook, Sophos warns IT security and control firm Sophos is urging Facebook users to be cautious following the discovery of a rapidly spreading scam targeted at fans of the popular "Twilight" teen vampire romance movies.
Scammers are pretending to be linking to a game promoting the upcoming movie "Twilight Breaking Dawn" starring heart throbs Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart . However, by clicking on a "Play Now" link, users are clickjacked into announcing that they "Like" the link, thus spreading it virally across Facebook.
The scam continues with users then being presented with a dialog box, asking them to grant permission for a third party application to access their Facebook account and post messages, updates and photos to their wall.
"Of course, if you're a fan of "Twilight" you will quite possibly grant permission without thinking," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "The only problem being that this isn't a legitimate application request, but is being done by a rogue app which wants to make money out of your devotion to the works of Stephenie Meyer's series of novels. Predictably, having gained the ability to post to your Facebook account, the scammers then present the final piece of the jigsaw: an online survey which earns them affiliate commission for each person who completes the questionnaire."
If Facebook users have been affected by this scam, they should clean up their account before any further damage is done.
For more information, including images and a video demonstrating how Facebook users can clean-up their Facebook accounts if hit by this or similar scams, please visit the Sophos Naked Security site:
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/11/the-twilight-breaking-dawn-facebook-scam/
Information on all the latest Facebook threats and scams can be found on the Sophos Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SophosSecurity
Scammers are pretending to be linking to a game promoting the upcoming movie "Twilight Breaking Dawn" starring heart throbs Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart . However, by clicking on a "Play Now" link, users are clickjacked into announcing that they "Like" the link, thus spreading it virally across Facebook.
The scam continues with users then being presented with a dialog box, asking them to grant permission for a third party application to access their Facebook account and post messages, updates and photos to their wall.
"Of course, if you're a fan of "Twilight" you will quite possibly grant permission without thinking," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "The only problem being that this isn't a legitimate application request, but is being done by a rogue app which wants to make money out of your devotion to the works of Stephenie Meyer's series of novels. Predictably, having gained the ability to post to your Facebook account, the scammers then present the final piece of the jigsaw: an online survey which earns them affiliate commission for each person who completes the questionnaire."
If Facebook users have been affected by this scam, they should clean up their account before any further damage is done.
For more information, including images and a video demonstrating how Facebook users can clean-up their Facebook accounts if hit by this or similar scams, please visit the Sophos Naked Security site:
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/11/the-twilight-breaking-dawn-facebook-scam/
Information on all the latest Facebook threats and scams can be found on the Sophos Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SophosSecurity