A new wave of spam attacks that promises unsuspecting victims free iPads is targeting Facebook and Twitter users as well as their friends, reports Reuters.
The scam hijacks users’ accounts and sends message to their contacts, telling them "u have to check out this website its glitchin right now and sending out ipads to everyone for free!" When consumers click the link, they are taken to better-gifts.net, which collects their personal information and enters them into referral marketing programs.
While the majority of these attacks have occurred through Twitter, a Facebook spokesperson told Reuters that some Facebook users were affected as well. Even if targeted users change their passwords, spam messages are still sent.
As Reuters notes, these types of scams are effective because the promotional deal appears to come from victims’ friends.
The latest social network attack comes shortly after another Facebook scam. A new application promises users the ability to "dislike" their friends’ status updates, but it actually commandeers their accounts and uses the stolen profiles to proliferate itself.
