Facebook users warned not to click on 'Hottest Leaked Snapchats' links

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/15/facebook-hottest-snapchats-scam-links

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Facebook users have been warned to avoid clicking on links promising leaked photos from messaging app Snapchat, with security firm BitDefender claiming they are likely to be the work of cyberscammers.

Posts promising “10 Hottest Leaked Snapchats Ever” accompanied by a photo of a topless woman have been popping up on the social network, but they lead to websites where the surprises are anything but saucy.

“Fraudulent websites promoting snapchat leaks and other ‘viral’ content could lead to identity fraud and financial losses,” said BitDefender’s chief security strategist Catalin Cosoi.

“Victims are usually subscribed to money-making surveys, and redirected to scams promising electronics or amazing diet pills. Bitdefender advises users to be suspicious of videos, Snapchats and pictures ‘leaked’ online, particularly on Facebook.”

The company says the 10 Hottest Snapchats posts have become the second most popular cyberscam on Facebook in 2015, behind only the now-familiar “check your top profile visitors” scams that proliferated on the social network last year.

The current Snapchat scam leads to websites including TrendingUSA, ViralTruck, ViralDips and FunChoke, which BitDefender says it has now blacklisted within its antivirus software.

It is no surprise to see leaked Snapchat photos being used as bait in this way: the app was at the centre of a high-profile leak of photos and videos in October 2014, which was dubbed “the Snappening”.

That particular leak was the result of people using a third-party service to access Snapchat, without realising that their images and videos were being stored there, and thus vulnerable to being stolen.

Facebook’s popularity – it has more than 1.35 billion active users – have made it an increasingly popular hunting ground for cybercriminals hoping to lure people to external websites, then steal their data and/or install malware on their computers.

From tools claiming to find out friends’ passwords and profile colour-changing apps to webcam stripteases and fraudulent Audi R8 giveaways, there has been a succession of scams targeting Facebook users. In 2013, Italian security researchers claimed that spam links alone were earning the spammers $200m a year.

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