Trend Micro Exposes 9 Social Media Scams You Need to Know

According to a research by Webcertain Group, the number of social media users in the Asian-Pacific region is expected to hit 1 billion by year-end, almost five times the total in North America. Thanks to the prevalence of smartphone and mobile internet, browsing through social media has become second nature to us.

The 2014 Mobile Behaviour Report by Salesforce showed that 75% of consumers access to social media at least once per day through smartphones and 64% of tablet users do the same using their tablets. As social media is now a common destination for mobile users, it has also become one of the favorite attack hotspots for cybercriminals.

Trend Micro exposes nine of the most prominent Social Media Scams, such as “The Facebook Color Changer”, “Who Viewed Your Facebook Profile,” and “Naked Videos,” that cybercriminals use to spread malware infection to PCs and smartphones or steal personal information by luring users to click on phishing sites.

Whatever the name, the modus operandi for most of these social media scams are almost the same, they lure users in with an enticing call to action to get users to install third-party malware that can steal personal and banking information.

While good online security habits are essential, a solid mobile security app that offers additional privacy protection provides an additional safety net for inexperienced users. One such app is the Trend Micro Dr. Safety app available for free on Google Play. The app features 100% detection as proven by independent IT-security institute, AV-Test, and offers protection against social media scams, personal information theft, and phishing links, keeping your device and your personal information safe

Here are the 9 most popular social media scams Trend Micro has identified:

The Facebook Color Changer app: This app appeals to users with the feature to personalize their Facebook color. But it also leads users to phishing sites and tricks them to share the app with friends. It also uses a tutorial video to trick users to click on an ad. It hijacks users’ profile and spams users’ friends. It even infects mobile devices with malware.

Who Viewed Your Facebook Profile app: This Facebook scam lures users with bogus messages that appear to come from friends or ads posted on their walls and invites users to check who viewed their Facebook profiles. Once the user click on the link, the user’s profile and the friends on his network will be exposed to the scammer.

Facebook Videos with Enticing Titles: Sex sell and cybercriminals are using it to get your data. Scammers lure users with promise of viewing a raunchy video with enticing titles like “Not Safe for Work” or “Famous celebrity caught in sex video” to lure users to click on links that redirect them to phishing sites or install malware directly on your device.

Facebook Fake Naked Videos: Facebook scams luring users with naked videos usually come in the form of ads or posts with links that take users to sites that host bogus YouTube videos. Such fake sites then prompt users to install an update to fix their “broken” Adobe Flash Player. Once clicked, the fake Flash Player installer will infect the device by installing its malware (usually a Trojan) as a browser plugin. The malware can then steal your photos you’ve uploaded on Facebook and even use the same tactic to lure your Facebook friends.

Instagram InstLike app: Thousands of users worldwide have installed the InstLike app in the hope to boost their Instagram likes and followers. Instead, this app takes steals your Instgram password and other information while spreading the infection to your Instagram friends. Despite being reported, unwitting users are still being duped by InstLike as it continues to be in business.

Twitter Instant Followers apps: Apps that promise instant Twitter followers usually cause users’ to fall victim to scammers, who leverage user accounts for further spamming and attacks. If there’s an account or an app that promises you thousands of Twitter followers in an instant just stay away because chances are, it’s a scam.

Twitter Bait Scam: Some scams send messages like “Just saw this photo of you” to trick users into clicking the malicious links in the messages. The scam can hijack users’ Twitter accounts and send their friends further spam messages, luring them to phishing sites that steal personal information, so be aware of the links that you click. If it’s from a stranger, stay away.

Tumblr Dating Game: The Tumblr Dating Game lures users to click on a malicious link disguised as a game. You are then requested to create an account to play the game. This is of course bogus and allows scammers to harvest your personal info. Also once you’ve created the account, the app will direct you to ads or porn sites to that generate revenue for the scammer.

Pinterest Bogus Pins: Scammers post bogus pins that advertise free giveaways to lure users to false surveys or phishing sites. You click on a pin thinking that you’re joining a contest but in the end you’re taken to a phishing site. The malware can also access your Pinterest followers and spam them with the same scam. Best way to avoid this is to avoid taking part in contests on Pinterest.