Scammers can make a lot of money via affiliate programs

Sep 24, 2013 14:58 GMT  ·  By

In case you’ve posted an ad on Craigslist, you should beware of a new scam identified by experts from IT security firm Symantec

Scammers are harvesting phone numbers from Craigslist, most likely with the aid of automated harvesting tools. In the first phase, they send SMSs to potential victims, telling them something like “Hi, Saw your post on Craigslist. Let’s chat. Here’s my photo [link].”

If the link is accessed from the mobile device, the following error message is displayed: “Device not compatible. Please view from a desktop or laptop computer.”

Accessing the link from a PC takes the user to a website that instructs him/her to install GIMP, the popular open source software. However, internauts are not offered a genuine GIMP installer, but one that installs several other pieces of software as well.

This additional software enables the scammers to earn money via affiliate programs.

Check out the gallery to see what this scam looks like.

Craigslist SMS scam (5 Images)

Beware of Craigslist SMS scams
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