Tweet, tweet, beware the fraudulent scam on Twitter!

By Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 25 March 2009 17:41

Deals

A flood of spam has infiltrated the Twitter microblogging community, with new Twitter scams ‘popping up right left and centre’ according to F-Secure, which says it discovered a fake Twitter account that tricks users into a Google scam by promising a free Range Rover.

In a statement today, IT security provider, F-Secure, says the link promising a free Range Rover, posted by Nevada-based Jason (Terri962), takes users to a page talking about how they can make US$5,000 per month, by simply posting a link on Google.
 
“Clicking on any of the links in the ad takes you (after a redirect via krovs.com) to onlinewizards.net where it says we can now make US$6,500 per month.” says F-Secure’s chief security advisor, Patrik Runald.

“Sounds too good to be true? Then it probably is. To become a Google Cash advertiser, you have to submit your credit card details and other personal information,” says Runald.

In another example cited by F-Secure, is user Kristen Andrews’s account, whose latest tweet, says F-Secure, reads: “My boyfriend emailed me this site that has a $5000 slot tournament on April’s fool day and it’s free to enter”, followed by a URL.

F-Secure says Kristen Andrews claims to live in Miami/, Florida, and has more than 1,000 followers, and the links lead to a page asking you to download the file goldencasino.exe, a Casino game.

“Twitter is aware of the problem and deleted "follower" Kristen's account within 10 minutes but the problem is that new Twitter scams are popping up left, right and centre,” Runald claimed.

“Tweople should check who’s following them, and be cautious when clicking on URLs and tinyurls.”

And, if you want to look at updates on Twitter spam and screen shots of the fraudulent sites, you can visit F-Secure’s Weblog: www.f-secure.com/weblog/ or follow Patrik Runald on Twitter.