Pin promises exclusive Bieber XXX tape, links to classic Facebook sex-themed scam
Scammers are taking advantage of the high visibility of images on Pinterest – in this case a supposed naked Bieber video - to steer users to a scam on Facebook as part of the growing trend to cross-network sneakiness.
In this case, a Pin apparently featuring Justin Bieber splashing his way out of the ocean with no clothes on has popped up to take Pinterest users to a Facebook page that’s supposed to host the Bieber images.
The final stop, though, is a survey maze.
Though scams centered on sex and Justin Bieber have already gained a spot in the scam hall of fame, this appears to be the scammers’ first such connection across platforms. A previous scam wave was built on a reverse model, with Facebook (ads) steering to a Pinterest destination.
This twist of technique is probably due to scammers’ key advantage on Pinterest: the very high impact of visual content makes it relatively easy for scams to spread, text-based social engineering techniques being almost unnecessary.
The second element of novelty here is that the scam targets people highly active on online social platforms, more precisely the overlap between the Facebook and the Pinterest crowds.
As predictions about scams migrating from one platform to another and even building cross-platform malicious links are gradually confirmed, raising awareness about the existence of social scams and about the main baits they are likely to use is crucial. Despite the countless warnings against and lessons on social e-threats, scam history appears to repeat…with a twist.
This article is based on the technical information provided courtesy of Tudor Florescu, BitDefender Online Threats Analyst
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