Opens door to potentially unwanted applications

Nov 17, 2014 21:39 GMT  ·  By

Cybercriminals have a thick repertoire of baits that can be used to attract large numbers of victims, and in one of the more recent attempts, they played the atrocity footage card, distributing a message claiming to show a naked woman being eaten by a shark.

The fact that the clip appears to be hosted on YouTube should be a clear sign that there’s some sort of a scam behind it, but even so, many Facebook users are likely to fall for the trick.

Usually, these deceits lead to completing online surveys, but in this case, malicious programs are installed on the victim’s computer.

Censored teasing image leads to unwanted programs

The scam lures with a teaser image of what looks like a shark attack with part of it censored, in an attempt to hide either nudity or the atrocity of the incident.

If the URL is accessed, the potential victim is taken to a web page containing multiple such shocking clips.

It appears that trying to watch the video requires the download of a plug-in, which is obviously unwanted software; its nature is unclear, but Hoax Slayer says it is “a malware program that can hijack your browser, show malicious advertisements, and interfere with security settings on your computer.”

On the other hand, in this type of scam, it could range from a malicious program to a potentially unwanted application (PUA). Having these on the system is never a good idea, considering that they can be used to steal information or to pollute the browsing session with advertising.

Most of the times, however, this type of campaign aims to take advantage of affiliate marketing schemes. These consist in one party receiving money for promoting a specific program, each installation being paid.

PUAs can be quite nasty. Besides being added to the system without the consent of the user, they also have a negative impact on the performance of the computer and are difficult to remove.

They can be anything from toolbars for the web browser to useless shopping assistants and even regular programs promising a performance boost.

Scams with shocking videos rise in popularity

For those wondering why the scammers resorted to an atrocity-themed campaign, it has been observed that users respond to violent content out of curiosity and it is particularly successful among younger audiences.

In a study conducted by Bitdefender, this type of lure has been included in the top five used on Facebook, being present in 7.53% of the scams. The company says that this category has enjoyed a rise in popularity lately, so more atrocious video baits are expected to emerge on the social network.