A lot of people must fall for scams offering free iPad 2s, because the scams just won’t die.Facebook users should be wary of the apps they install on their Facebook profile, as they may get you in trouble with your friends should the app decide to go through your friends list and start posting spam on your friend’s wall.
A friend of mine made the mistake of installing a rogue app, which then lead to the following spam being posted on my Facebook wall:
Upon going to look at his profile, I found that the app had sent spam to others and there appeared to be a total of 4 different versions spam being spread.
There’s the one I got:
[your name] complimentary facebook IP2 give all away thanks to this facebook application –theres 896 remaining, RIP steve jobs great device [link] :)
Version 2:
[your name] use this app and get an ipaad2 basically free thanks to this facebook application ok hurry because theres about 977 left it costs nothing so go quick before their out [link] :X
Version 3:
[your name] did you claim the facebook iPaad 2 ups delivered in today –theres 129 available [link] rofl
Finally, version 4:
[your name] long time no talk@ posting from my new ApleiPaad courtesy of facebook –theres 8 in inventory as a giveaway [link] Enjoy!
[FYI: The typos and misspellings are not my doing, that's how the spam messages were written.]
All of the links advertised in the spam messages lead to Tumblr blogs with a single post on it, sporting the cookie cutter layout used in majority of Facebook scams that offer free stuff.
The offer was served through a framed page from apples-ipads2.com, which is registered to someone in Russia that I recently found to be running a work-at-home scam.
Like all other scams, if you do as you’re told in step 1 (share the page) and 2 (leave a comment), you will be redirected to a page that asks for more information:
Although it starts off slow in just asking for your email, once you enter it you will be taken to yet another page that asks for way more personal details, including your address, date of birth and phone number.
If you’re expecting to receive your free Apple iPad 2 after filling out your information, you can forget it.
Scammers are hoping you’re too star-struck by the thought of a free Apple iPad 2 to notice that the fine print on their pages state that you have to fill out surveys and complete 10 (yes, TEN) offers without canceling more than 2 of them within the first month of signing up.
Often times the “reward offers” entail signing up for a paid monthly service or applying for a credit card you don’t need. Not to mention it gives scammers nearly all of the information they need in order to commit identity theft and send you a mountain of spam to your email, home or even your cellphone!
By the time you’re done with everything, you’re likely to have paid for the full retail price of an iPad and then some.
Don’t fall for this scam, folks. If you see it, mark it as spam and delete it.
Note: If you notice that the scammer is using Tumblr blogs, you can email Tumblr (support@tumblr.com) to have them disabled. I did this for the blogs I found related to scam outlined in this post.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet or “Like” us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on the latest Facebook and internet scams.
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