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Scammers Inserting Malicious Links in Popular Twitter Topics

by Caleb Johnson on June 22, 2009 at 02:25 PM

What do Wimbledon, Iran, and Perez Hilton have in common? Not a whole lot other than the fact that all three are popular topics on Twitter right now. Mashable reports that Panda Security, an antivirus company, has found that scammers are posting fake tweets that include these popular topics and a link to a malware site.

Sean-Paul Correll, a researcher at Panda Labs, described the scam in a blog post, "Cyber criminals have been targeting Twitter users by creating thousands of messages (tweets) embedded with words involving trending topics and malicious URLs."

After clicking one of these links, you're taken to a page that tells you to upgrade your Flash player, or a similar application. If you download the 'player,' malware will be installed on your computer. Next, you receive a message that says your computer has a virus and tells you to download a fraudulent program called 'Fast Anti-Virus 2009,' which, of course, costs $89.


As we've said in the past, a little caution goes a long way in avoiding these types of scams. According to Mashable, the scam links typically begin with 'Twitterbest.mp and Zasaden.mp,' so keep an eye out for those addresses while you're searching tweets. If you've already been infected, take a look at our tips for handling such problems. It's the healthy choice for your computer and bank account. [From: PandaLabs via: Mashable]

Tags: iran, malware, perez hilton, PerezHilton, scams, security, social networking, SocialNetworking, top, twitter, wimbledon

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