14 DAY TRIAL // It’s known that the success of a Facebook scam campaign largely depends on the number of Shares, Likes and comments the phony advertisement gets from real users. Crooks devised a new way to dupe customers into commenting on a scheme that ultimately leads to a survey.
Bitdefender experts reveal that it all starts as with any other scam. A post promises prizes or outrageous content.
While in regular scams the unsuspecting victim would be urged to press a Like or a Share button, in this case he/she is presented with a site that displays a CAPTCHA that allegedly must be entered as part of a security verification.
What Facebook members don’t know is that when they write the “security code” they are actually posting a comment to the scam.
In the example provided by Bitdefender researchers, the CAPTCHA, which is not difficult to decipher at all, reads “ha haha”. This means that once the Submit button is pressed, a comment that reads “ha haha” will be posted on behalf of the user.
In the next stage, the classic survey webpage appears, promising other fabulous prizes in return for the completion of the poll. For each internaut that answers the questions the crooks earn a certain amount of money.
As security solutions providers and other companies raise awareness regarding the existence of these scams, the masterminds that launch them struggle to come up with other sophisticated ways to ensure the success of their campaign.
This is why the customers of social media websites are advised to always be on the lookout for schemes that try to fool them into performing actions that benefit cybercriminals.
If by mistake you already posted a comment you can delete it to make sure that your friends don’t fall for the clever trap.