Top 5 online scams of the week

It was reported this week that a Briton falls for an online scam every seven seconds, so PC Site® has come up with a list of scams to make yourselves aware of, to prevent lost money and dignity!

1. The Anti-vuvuzela trumpet software scam

Anyone who has been watching the World Cup will know just how annoying the constant hooting of the vuvuzela is. Well, Scammer have decide to cash in on people’s frustration, and invent a fake anti-vuvuzela trumpet software, with supposed “active noise cancellation” technology.

Do not be fooled, this is a scam and will leave you with an empty wallet and vuvuzela’s still ringing in your ears.

2.  Facebook “click-jacking” scam

Beware of the phoney “like” button my fair Facebook users! If you see that your mate is suddenly advertising Andrex toilet tissue, then you know they have been hit by the scam.

This click-jacking occurs when a user clicks on a link to a webpage which, when clicked through leads the victim to a third-party site, and accesses their news feed without them knowing!

The link to this page then appears on the home pages of the users friends, luring in other potential victims.

3. Eclipse novella features more nasties than bargained for…

The popular Twilight Saga is being targeted by scammer looking to manipulate young and incautious fans.

The Eclipse novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is available to read for free at BreeTanner.com, but hackers have been luring fans who are desperate for a copy, into downloading malicious viruses and malware.

The 192-page short story is available in a read-only format at breetanner.com, and fans have been warned not to click any download that claim to lead to downloads.

4. It’s another shot at the World Cup!

Scammers are well known for targeting current events and the Wolrd Cup has been hit hard this year.

Spam has done the rounds targeting American supporters with competition offers based on World Cup quizzes and phishing email with subject lines:

“Know your football? Make your World Cup predictions. Completely free. Predict correct and win a huge cash prize.”

5. Facebook friend-deleting bug

Yes the hackers have taken another swipe at Facebook with a code that uses publicly available data from Facebook to delete every friendship connection a user has!

You have been warned…

Image credit: Bruno Biagioni Neto