Thousands of Twitter users hit by classic Facebook scam

Twitter users have once again found themselves the target of rogue applications this weekend, in a similar fashion to the problem which has been plaguing Facebook users for over a year.

Over 9,000 Twitter users clicked on links posted by fellow Twitter users, claiming to be about a girl who killed herself after her dad posted a message online:

OMG: This GIRL KILLED HERSELF after her father posted THIS on her wall: [LINK]

Find the wording familiar? Well, you might very well do if you’re a Facebook user, as the “girl kills herself after her father” meme has become one of the most popular methods by which scammers on the social network have tricked people into clicking on their links in the last year.

And now, it’s made an unwelcome appearance on Twitter too. Clicking on the link would take you to a rogue app which would attempt to connect…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus 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 security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.