Horrible thing happened in California? Viral scam spreads on Facebook

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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@gcluley

Another viral scam is spreading between Facebook users, tricking them into taking online surveys that earn commission for those who initiated the scam.

Thousands of Facebook users have found that their accounts have posted messages saying

OMG..YOU WILL CRY TODAY AFTRE WATCHING THIS HORRIBLE THING HAPPEND IN CALIFORNIA…!!—>[LINK]

without their explicit permission.

The messages are designed to trick you into clicking on them, with some pretending to come from legitimate breaking news outlets such as Fox News.

If you do click on the links, however, you are shown a series of messages that lull you into believing that you will be able to access live car accident video footage.

Sounds pretty ghoulish doesn’t it? And you wouldn’t be far from the truth if you felt that you’d have to be pretty sick to want to see such content – but the internet can be a rather sick place.

As part of the trap, you are asked to give permission for a third party…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

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