Groupon and LivingSocial Scam Sites Found

A lot of Internet users rely on websites such as Groupon or LivingSocial to find great deals on products. Unfortunately, scammers are trying to take advantage of the sites’ popularity to launch their malicious campaigns.

ZScaler researchers came across a domain called groupon500.com, registered on February 20, claiming to offer $500 (350 EUR) worth of credit in exchange for some information and a few clicks.

The first step of the scam urges potential customers to provide information such as name, address, zip code, city, state, and phone number. After that they’re requested to complete certain offers which allegedly can help them win some prizes, including an iPod Touch.

Unlike other schemes, this one is perfectly legal, the fact that the user’s details may be shared with other parties, and that they may be signed up for trial offers that actually charge the victim’s credit card being mentioned in the site’s Privacy and Terms and Conditions section.

On the other hand, if it’s legal, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not a scam which is why internauts should be very cautious when handing over sensitive information, especially credit card data.