We’ve recently analyzed a Facebook spam that purportedly comes from the media organization British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), similar to how cybercriminals used the social networking site LinkedIn early last month.
The attack starts with a wall post containing the subject BREAKING: Lady Gaga Found Dead in Hotel Room together with the legitimate site www.bbc.co.uk and a description that says This is the most awful day in the US history.
During our analysis, we have also noted that this Facebook spam does not prompt a warning message for the site redirection, therefore bypassing the SSL/HTTPS feature of Facebook even if it is enabled.
Such Facebook attacks that use news items on celebrities, pop icons, and significant world events are something that we have seen before. Just recently, we have noted a similar Facebook ruse, which used the recent demise of singer Amy Winehouse and also required users to answer a survey and disclose their mobile phone numbers.
Users are advised to continuously be wary of such threats and avoid clicking links to such scams on Facebook. Trend Micro protects product users from this attack via the Smart Protection NetworkT by blocking all related URLs.
As cybercriminals are persistently looking for ways to use Facebook and other social networking sites for their malicious schemes, social media users may check our report, “Spam, Scams, and Other Social Media Threats.”
Needless to say, Lady Gaga is still alive.
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