The only things naughty are those pesky surveys

Aug 4, 2010 17:47 GMT  ·  By

Another viral survey scam that preys on credulous users is currently spreading on Facebook and Twitter. This time the lure is related to the extremely popular teen pop star Justin Bieber, which scammers claim did naughty things on webcam.

“Did you saw how Justin Bieber become naughty on his webcam --> [URL]”, “Justin Bieber become naughty on his webcam - shocking video”, “Justin Bieber like you never saw before,” are some of the spam messages used to trick users into visiting a rogue Facebook application page.

This page displays a video thumbnail showing Justin Bieber apparently engaged in a webcam chat with a girl. Under it, yet another enticing message reads “Justin asked random girls to tease him on webcam. What they will do ? What he will do ? You will be in shock when you see the full video !” Visitors are also informed that they need to “like” the page in order to access the recording, which didn't seem to bother several tens of thousands of users.

There is a also a page containing obviously fake reviews, which some people were also misguided enough to "like". In the end, instead of a shocking Bieber video, the curious users who accepted to spam all of their friends and family members, are asked to take part in a survey.

“Surveys like this not only scoop up your personal information, but also earn commission for the people who are spreading these links around. In the worst cases they even ask for your cell phone number and sign you up for expensive premium rate services,” Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, warns. The security expert also points out that the same scam has been spotted on Twitter, where it specifically targets users with “bieber” in their name.

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