14 DAY TRIAL // Experts have come across several scammy websites – written in English and Spanish – that promise cheats and cracks for Poker Stars, Farmville, Call of Duty, Empires & Allies, Line Pop and other popular games.
Bart Blaze, Panda Security technician and malware researcher, has uncovered five websites that claim to offer cheats, cracks and hacks for popular titles:
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All these Blogspot sites provide instructions on how to cheat and links that allegedly point to the needed tools.
However, the links point to fake file sharing websites such as: fileice.net, fileme.us, filenix.com, matrixmega.com, oceanfiles.me, sharecash.org, sharkyfiles.com or topfiles.me.
When users visit these websites, they’re instructed to complete a survey in order to download the cracks and cheats. Potential victims are promised all sorts of prizes in return for the completion of the surveys. However, in reality no one ever wins anything.
The scammers on the other hand can end up making large amounts of money through these surveys. That’s because based on the victim’s location, he/she can be asked to hand over personal information, or even to sign up for paid mobile services.
We’ve asked Bart Blaze to provide some advice for users who come across such websites. The first advice is not to complete any surveys, no matter how many prizes they offer or how legitimate they look. However, more importantly, users can contribute to shutting down the scammy Blogspot websites by reporting them to Google.
The expert says he has already reported these sites, but the more reports they get, the sooner they are shut down.
In general, you can check out a website you don't know with tools such as VirusTotal or URLVoid.
Also, in case you’re asked to install an application onto your computer, search it on Google. The search engine will in most cases reveal if it’s legitimate or something that should be avoided.