There is no video. There is no secret confession. However, scammers gain access to users’ Facebook walls, personal information, and share the viral scam using the unquestioned loyalty of their social media friends.
AllFacebook.com, a site which tracks trends, analytics and news about Facebook, shows that within minutes of the not guilty verdict, users posted 10 comments every second. Given that frenetic activity on the site, it’s no wonder scammers targeted it.
“It makes sense that people are taking advantage given the huge interest in the Casey Anthony trial,” said Josh Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab atHarvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “The mechanism of sharing information can be taken advantage of and it’s a nefarious practice.”
Here’s how the scam baits users:
•Facebook users click on the link which takes them to a site where they confirm their age.
•The scammer then posts a copy of the link to a user’s wall, shares it with everyone on their list of friends, and spreads the scam.
•The user then is taken to another website to answer a never ending succession of questionnaires, giving scammers referral fees and traffic from every completed survey.
Internet scams are not new, but Benton said they are becoming more pervasive on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter because of the evolution of journalism.
“News agencies are relying on their readers to spread their news more than ever before,” Benton said. “Unfortunately, scammers take advantage of the good faith users assume from their friends in sharing links.”
wpacheco@tribune.com or 407-420-6262
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