14 DAY TRIAL // Scammers are piggybacking on a recent controversy surrounding the signs of the Zodiac shifting, in order to trick people into installing rogue apps and participating in deceptive surveys.
Facecrooks reports that spam messages unknowingly posted by victims read: "I just figured that the Zodiac Signs have changed! I'm now a Libra (was a Virgo). Find out your new Zodiac sign @ http://bit.ly/[censored]"
The lure is based on the claim of an astronomer from them Minnesota Planetarium Society, that because of the Earth's wobble, the constellations have shifted.
According to him, this led to the introduction of a thirteenth sign called the Ophiuchus (Serpentarius).
Astrologers responded to this by pointed out that the Western Zodiac follows the seasons and not the Sun and is therefore unaffected.
However, it was already too late and the theory spread like wildfire on social networking websites leaving people confused as to whether their sign has changed or not.
Cybercriminals don't miss any chance to profit from matters that draw a lot of interest from the general public and Facebook scams are no different.
Clicking on the spammed link takes users to a rogue Facebook app called "My New Zodiac Sign" which asks for permission to access their data and post on their wall.
The app is the scam's propagation mechanism and installing it will result in spam messages being sent to all of the victim's friends.
Users are told that in order to find out their new Zodiac sign, they need to pass a verification process which involves them taking a survey.
These surveys collect personal information for marketing purposes and try to subscribe people to premium rate mobile services.
People who have been affected by this scam should go to Account > Privacy Settings > Websites and Applications and revoke the permissions granted to the rogue app. They should also manually clean the spam messages posted on their walls.