Symantec Security Response: Beware of the iPad 3 Scam

Eager to get your hands on the upcoming iPad3?

Rumours are spinning wildly on the release date of Apple’s next generation iPad and spammers are jumping on the bandwagon in hope of scamming people who can’t wait to get the device.

Symantec recently came across a scam email trying to take advantage of the hype surrounding the yet-to-be-released iPad 3. Introducing themselves as Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, the email states how Facebook have joined up with Apple for a one time promotion – to give away an iPad 3 at no cost. This 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. The user is then asked to click a link and fill out a survey so that scammers can obtain valuable personal information and verify that the email address is valid – one that they can take advantage of to send more spam in future. Click fraud may also be in play here whereby scammers make money every time a user clicks on the link to the survey.

An example of the message is shown below:

Fortunately, it is easy to ascertain a scam email due to the poor grammar used within. If you suspect an email you received from Facebook is a scam, you can report it to them.

Symantec advises Internet users to adopt the following best practices to avoid falling prey to phishing attacks:

· Do not 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.

· When entering personal or financial information, ensure the website is encrypted with an SSL certificate by looking for the padlock, ‘https’, or the green address bar.