Symantec warns on iPad3 scam

 

Experts at Symantec have raised an alarm over the on-going scam over the impending launch of the iPad-3 due to hit the market place anytime soon.

They noted that most worrisome is the scam letter making a round, claiming that a certain company has a business relationship with Facebook.

The scammers, ITRealms Online gathered, introduced themselves as Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer, Facebook.

The electronic mail (email) then states how Facebook have joined up with Apple for a one time promotion to give away an iPad 3 at no cost.

They alleged that though this email was targeted at a Symantec customer, the advanced monitoring systems were able to identify this scam.

“Upon investigating this email further, it is easy to ascertain that it is a scam email due to the poor grammar used in the email and the fact that there is a spelling mistake within the email itself,” experts indicated, warning that “if you suspect an email you received from Facebook is a scam, you can report it to them.”

This, they said is of course, all false information, but the scam attempts to entice potential victims by stating how they have been randomly selected from a Facebook database.

“It is possible that a user could potentially be deceived by this ruse if they receive this email to the email address they have used to register with Facebook,” they said.

The experts warned that the user could then be asked to click on a link and fill out a survey with the goal for the scammers to obtain personal information from the user and to verify that their email address is valid, which they will undoubtedly use to send more spam to in the future.

Further, they warned that the scammer might also be making money through click fraud, whereby they make money every time a user clicks on the link to the survey.

They alleged that in the meantime, no one knows for certain when the iPad 3 will be launched until Apple confirms the announcement themselves.

They pointed out that whilst it would seem that this particular scam was sent in a very low volume, it is likely that it would continue to see a build-up of iPad 3 related spams right up until the official launch date.

“There will also undoubtedly be similar related scams doing the rounds on social networking sites as well,” part of the reports from Symantec read.

They outlined some steps to be taken, described the scam as unfortunate, adding that to identify scam email advised Internet users to adopt the some best practices to avoid falling prey to phishing attacks.

These include avoiding a click on suspicious links in email messages; avoid providing any personal information when answering an email; never enter personal information in a pop-up page or screen.

Additionally, when entering personal or financial information, Internet users have been counseled to ensure the website is encrypted with an Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate by looking for the padlock, ‘https’, or the green address bar.

Remmy Nweke
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