Warning: Whitney Houston autopsy video links on Facebook aren’t what they seem

The death of pop superstar Whitney Houston made headlines around the world this weekend, and it didn’t take long for fraudsters and cybercriminals to cash in on the singer’s death.

For instance, messages have been seen shared on Facebook claiming to link to a video of Whitney Houston’s autopsy.

According to the messages, the video of Whitney Houston’s autopsy “reveals a shocking secret that explains her death”.

Here’s what a typical message looks like:

<video> – Whitney Houstons autopsy reveals a shocking secret that explains her death.
<LINK>

Breaking News: Coroners autopsy reports reveals a dark past and secret life which tragically led to Whitney Houstons death.

Clicking on the link will take your browser which appears to show a YouTube video embedded on what looks like a Facebook webpage. However, a message on the page says that the video cannot be played as your version of Adobe Flash needs to be updated.

Of course, you…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

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, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.