Survey Scams Find Their Way into Pinterest

Mar

2012

Pinterest is the newest social networking site that’s steadily gaining popularity among users this year. Users can create their own “boards” where they can “pin” images or videos of anything they like. Users can “re-pin” images and videos posted by other users to their own boards or they can use the Pin It button to grab images from various sites or videos from YouTube.

However, it appears that cybercriminals have also noticed the site’s growing popularity. I’ve noticed one particular image constantly getting re-pinned in the website.

The image prominently features the Starbucks logo with a message stating that Starbucks was giving away free gift cards to all Pinterest users. Users will then need to visit a particular site to claim the gift card.

And it seems like Starbucks wasn’t the only one in a “generous” mood. Another pinned image was stating that luxury brand Coach was giving away free wallets and purses to users if they visit a particular site.

Should the user make the effort to visit either of the two given sites, they are redirected to websites that urge them to first re-pin the images. The last step involves clicking a link that leads to a survey scam site http://{BLOCKED}rmodules.com. It is interesting to note that both the Starbucks and Coach scams lead to the same survey site.

It’s the same attack we’ve seen before, but on a a different social media site. Cybercriminals use names of legitimate brands to convince users to either click a link or visit a particular site. We’ve already blocked all URLs related to these scams.

To know more about survey scams and other threats hovering social networking sites, you may read up on some of our blog entries, articles, and e-Guides:

Written by TrendLabs

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