Like-farming scam is easy to pull, poses no immediate risk

Mar 30, 2015 19:47 GMT  ·  By

Most users see no harm in liking or sharing a Facebook post or page, especially when they are promised a chance to win something with this little effort, but this sort of action not only promotes criminality online but it can also strike back under the form of different scams.

A recent campaign started by cyber crooks spreads the false promise of winning an iPhone 6s by doing the three things required to spread the scam and make it more popular: like, share, comment; and to ensure a wider audience, the crooks tout they have 300 Apple devices to spare.

The objective is to increase the visibility of the page

This activity is called like-farming because it aims at gathering a large number of likes that inflate the visibility of the page. The comments have the purpose of giving the page more credibility so that others are also duped into offering their contribution.

It might seem that doing this does not pose any risk to users, since Facebook likes, shares and comments cost nothing, but crooks often use these pages for other scams because of the wide exposure gained as a result of massive appreciation from the users.

In the end, there is no expensive prize to be gained, Hoax Slayer warns, but the crooks reach their goal and keep on running their business, which could turn into an online survey operation that also harvests contact details (phone number, email) used for spam or phishing.

Expensive products or incredible news are the best lure

Alternatively, if enough likes have been collected and the page reaches a certain popularity level, the crooks can sell it to others for prices ranging from a few tens of dollars to even $1,000 / €925.

The “300 iPhone Giveaway” scam was active during the weekend and promised that the winners would be announced on April 15.

Of course, no other information is provided, such as the criteria for selecting the lucky ones, the company that hosts the raffle or the reason of the promotion. Lack of such information is generally a clear hint that the operation is a sham.

In other Apple-related news, it appears that the company has three iPhones in the making this year, a 4-inch iPhone 6C being one of them; and rumor has it that some details about it have been leaked.

News like this can easily turn into a scam opportunity, and without checking reputable sources for more details, many could fall victim.