Facebook Scams Using Recent Tragedies to Lure Victims

The Better Business Bureau is warning people that Facebook scammers are using tragedies like the recent terrorist attacks in Norway and the death of Amy Winehouse to scam users.

Based on information obtained from Help Net Security and Sophos, BBB is releasing information aimed at preventing consumers from becoming victims of scams from those who would want to profit from recent tragedies.

According to a press release from BBB, a bogus post has appeared on that claims to link to a video from an Oslo security camera showing the detonation of a car bomb near a Norwegian government building in which at least 10 people were killed. However, it doesn’t link to a security camera that captured such a video there is no knowledge that such a video exists.

If you see the following message on Facebook  “[Video] OSLO Security Camera Captures Blast!,” you are warned not to click on it. Instead, delete it from your Facebook feed and report it to Facebook security. Help Net Security says the scam is infecting one user per second.

Facebook users have predictably been targeted with various scams. First came the ones exploiting the Oslo bombing news followed by scams luring victims in with non-existent videos of the last moments of the famous and recently deceased singer Amy Winehouse.
 

According to Sophos, variations of "Leaked Video!! Amy Winehouse On Crack hours before death," "Video leaked of Amy Winehouse's death!!! Warning: Graphical Content" and "SHOCKING - Amy Winehouse's Final Minutes" messages offering a link to the purported video unsurprisingly take users to pages where they are asked to like the page and to take a survey before being allowed to see it.

BBB warns that such scams usually lead to online surveys, with the scammers earning themselves commission for each survey that victims complete.

But first they trick you into sharing the link with your other Facebook friends. People who fell for this type of scam, are advised to remove any trace of it from your account ("Likes and interests" section, for example) and news feed, and to report the scam to Facebook.

BBB also advised that when it comes to unexpected and often shocking global news, legitimate news sites are always a better source of information than Facebook friends. 

Even when it seems that the offered link is the URL of a legitimate site, it might be better to go to that site by typing in the domain name in and then using the internal search feature in order to find the wanted news item.