14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve recently learned that spammers have already started abusing Twitter’s social video-sharing service Vine. Symantec experts have published a report to explain how the scammers make a profit.
The scammers start by commenting on videos, tagging videos with hashtags, and following random users. In the next phase, the potential target is presented with an offer to “get 100 FREE Vine followers.”
When these spam campaigns were first launched, victims were instructed to hand over their Vine-associated email addresses. However, now the spammers have changed their tactics and request targets to provide their Vine usernames.
Once the information is submitted, the victim is taken to a page where he/she is urged to install an application in order to get the 100 followers.
In the end, users don’t get any followers. The scammers, on the other hand, earn a certain amount of money via affiliate programs every time someone installs the applications.
At this point, the applications in question are installed from legitimate application stores, so they’re not necessarily malicious. However, users are advised to be cautious, since the scammers can decide to make their scheme more destructive at any point.
Users who encounter such spam messages are advised to report the spammy profiles by using the ellipsis button from the top right corner of the profile page.
In case you find spam comments on your videos, you can remove them by clicking the comment button and pressing the red “X” button that appears after swiping to the left on the message you want to remove.
Experts say that so far they haven’t spotted any other type of spam campaign, except for these “free followers” schemes. However, as the popularity of Vine grows, it’s likely that other, more malicious spam attacks will emerge.
