Car enthusiasts warned vs. Facebook scam

Car enthusiasts should know think before clicking "Like" for a supposed Facebook promotion offering two free Audi R8 cars, a security vendor said.

 

Bitdefender said more than 200,000 Facebook users had been victimized by the racket, which it described as a like-farming scam promising the premium sports cars.

 

"The bait spreads on fraudulent web pages and Audi communities, and also targets car lovers with malicious videos picturing Audi R8 in a race against Nissan GT-R," Bitdefender's Bianca Stanescu said.

 

Worse, she said thousands fall for the scam by the hour.

 

Stanescu said Bitdefender software detect the malware in the videos as JS:Trojan.JS.Likejack.A, which can grab likes without users’ knowledge.

 

Most users who enrolled in the free Audi R8 “giveaway” came from the US, Denmark, UK, Australia, Malaysia, Germany, and South Africa.

 

Stanescu warned like-farming may have serious repercussions in the long run.

 

"Once they have accumulated high number of fans, like-farming Facebook pages launch other fraudulent activities such as malware and survey scams, this time to a much larger audience. The data base with unwary users can also sold on the black market, and used for more targeted attacks," she said.

 

On the other hand, she said the fraudsters set November 20 as deadline for their fake competition.

 

Bitdefender has reported the malicious web page to Faceboook. It warned users to be wary of competitions "not hosted on the official pages of companies." — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News