14 DAY TRIAL // Another celebrity death scam is making the rounds on social media networks. This time, the scammers say the famous rapper Lil Wayne has died.
It all starts with messages on Facebook and Twitter which promise a video called “R.I.P - RAPPER LIL WAYNE FOUND DEAD!” The posts on Facebook read something like, “WOW. Just saw the video. This is crazy. He overdosed on syrup. RIP Lil Wayne.”
When users click on the link, they’re taken to an Altervista website (see screenshot) that appears to display a video window.
When users press the play button, they’re instructed to share the video on Facebook in order to gain access to the content. After the post is shared, victims are told to complete a survey in order to watch it.
Whenever someone completes such a survey, the crooks make a certain amount of money via affiliate networks. Even worse, many of these surveys are designed to sign up unwitting users to premium mobile services.
No matter how many surveys are completed, no one gets to see the video of Lil Wayne overdosing – because there is no such video.
A couple of weeks ago, a similar scam was making the rounds on Facebook. At the time, the scammers were luring internauts with an alleged raunchy video of Nicki Minaj and her boyfriend.
While it’s not uncommon for such scams to be seen on Facebook, it’s less common to see them on Twitter. From what we’ve seen, the cybercrooks have managed to trick Twitter users into sharing the posts on their feeds.
It’s uncertain how, since the scam website doesn’t mention anything about Twitter. It’s possible that the spammers have somehow hijacked the Twitter accounts – either via phishing or rogue apps.
