It’s mind-boggling how low cybercrooks will stoop – and how fast they can get a new scam up and running.Within hours of word hitting that Apple’s Co-Founder Steve Jobs had passed, internet scammers had a new scam in place to capitalize on the news.
The bait used? They were claiming that Apple was giving away 50 iPads in memory of Jobs and all you had to do was fill out a survey in order to “qualify”.
It seems these scammers knew well enough to spread their scam on Facebook, which ultimately lead to over 15,000 clicks from unsuspecting visitors according to Sophos‘s Naked Security blog. It’s unclear just how many of those visitors actually fell for the scam and filled out the survey, but it’s certain that those who did will be disappointed once they realize that they have been duped.
The scammers used bit.ly – a short url service – in order to cloak the actual website URL. Thankfully bit.ly has been notified and the url advertised in the Facebook scam has been flagged.That doesn’t mean that the scammers won’t try again. As sad as it is, Jobs’ passing is still a hot topic – many websites are throwing up timelines of his extraordinary life and contributions to the technology industry.
If you do wander about the internet in search of articles about Steve Jobs, be sure to stay on guard and watch out for any new scams that may pop-up – on Facebook or otherwise. It's only a matter of time before they have another scam up & running.
UPDATE: Another scam is up & running at stevejobsfuneral.com. They're claiming you can win 1 of 15 MacBook Pros if you hand over your email address. Don't fall for this scam, folks!
R.I.P. Steve Jobs!
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