14 DAY TRIAL // A YouTube video promising “secret exclusive photos and movies” of Justin Bieber after being arrested for drag racing and DUI lures users to websites that host bogus surveys and shady applications.
A lot of people are following the Justin Bieber scandal these days. Scammers and cybercriminals are well aware of it, which is why they've launched some operations that rely on the story.
According to researchers from Malwarebytes, one of the schemes involves a YouTube video called “Justin Bieber DUI - Arrested for drag racing.” The video doesn’t show anything else than what has been presented by the media over the past days.
However, the individuals behind the video, posted on a YouTube channel called “BieberDUI,” urge users to access one of two websites in order to see exclusive movies and photos of the singer while he was in jail.
The links from the video’s description section take internauts to a website that purports to serve a file called “Bieber_DUI_jail_photos.rar.” However, when the download button is clicked, victims are told to complete a “special offer” in order to gain access to the content.
Experts say that some of the offers are designed to harvest information, while others ask victims to install various pieces of software.
The software appears legitimate at first sight, but a careful look reveals that the installers are not genuine.
For instance, if users install the Minecraft version served on the site, they’re also tricked into installing toolbars, media players and other potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).
After an hour of surfing on the website, researchers identified a total of 108 PUPs installed on the computer they had been using to perform the tests.
If you’re a victim of this scam and you’ve installed some applications, scan your computer with an updated security solution.
In order to avoid falling for such scams, refrain from downloading content that’s not hosted on trusted websites.