A nasty hoax that leads to a rogue Facebook application

Aug 6, 2012 10:49 GMT  ·  By

World renowned wrestler John Cena has died as a result of a head injury suffered while attempting a stunt with Dwayne Johnson, at least that’s what a message circulating on Facebook claims. Fortunately, it’s only a scam.

The false post (via Hoax Slayer) reads:

John Cena (John Felix Anthony Cena) of World Wrestling Entertainment died in a head injury while perfecting a wrestling stunt with WWE wrestler, Dwayne Johnson or also known as The Rock. Authorities are now investigating. Watch the original video clip from WWE and their effort to save JOHN CENA (for 18yrs & above) --> [Link]

The news has already caught wind, many users flooding forums, Twitter and John Cena fan pages with the message.

Such fake rumors are not uncommon, but this one might present a higher level of risk to unsuspecting social media customers. The link doesn’t actually lead to a video, but to a Facebook app.

The application has been removed by Facebook, which means that it’s most likely some rogue app designed to steal clicks or user information.

Most rumors only lead to spamming, but there are a few – such as this one – that may be part of a much more malicious operation. The link to the so-called video could lead to phishing sites, compromised domains that host malware, and shady pieces of software that masquerade all sorts of plots.

A similar scam was seen making the rounds a couple of days ago, when spam emails informed recipients that Gabby Douglas, the US gymnast who won two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics, had been banned for using drugs.

In that case, the link to the alleged video led to a webpage that attempted to dupe the victim into downloading a fake Flash Player update.