14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook scammers are luring users to surveys and trick them into spamming their friends with promises of free $25 Apple iTunes gift cards.
The rogue messages posted from the victims' accounts read: "Free $25 Apple iTunes Giftcard. Limited time left, get yours now!"
The advertised links take users to pages hosted on blogspot where they are presented with a multi-step process to get their giftcard.
First, they are asked to share the aforementioned spam message on their walls, therefore helping the scam to spread.
The next step is to complete one of several surveys. This is the monetizing component of the scam, as the people behind it earn commission money for every completed survey.
Additionally, some of these surveys can be deceptive and can trick users into signing up for expensive services that are billed to their phones every month.
"Clearly they [the scammers] have no qualms about using Apple imagery to try to trick you into believing that the campaign is endorsed in some way by Apple itself," warns Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
"Of course, if you have fallen for the scam, it's a good idea to remove all references to it from your Facebook page and warn your friends not to participate in it," he adds.
The use of Apple products and trademarks in scams is pretty common which suggests that this method does have a fairly good rate of success. Apple's products are usually expensive and the scammers hope that users won't miss a chance to earn one for free.
As always, people should guide themselves after the old saying: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When in doubt, searching for information about an offer before acting on it might reveal if it's a scam or not. The ones that ask users to complete surveys in exchange for prizes or access to content almost always are.