Reporter had a stroke on live TV – Facebook scam

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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Serene Branson, a CBS Los Angeles newsreader, became an unwilling YouTube star overnight after speculation spread that she had suffered a stroke while presenting from the Grammy Awards.

The footage of Serene Branson stumbling over her words quickly became viral, as users on Facebook and Twitter passed the link on to each other.

Although reports indicate that Miss Branson was not hospitalised and is “feeling fine”, interest in the video snippet continues to bubble away – and now scammers are exploiting the news story.

If you see a message like the following posted from one of your Facebook friend’s accounts don’t click on the link.

Omg this reporter had a stroke on live tv check it out [LINK]

If you do make the mistake of clicking on the link – perhaps out of morbid curiousity to watch Serene Brandon struggling in her piece to camera – you will be presented with a screen like the following claiming that what you are about to do is use a…

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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