Upon accepting the Friend Request, the Facebook user instantly received a direct message congratulating them on winning the Skyline Chili contest. See below.
The congratulatory direct message itself contained an embedded short link so the unknowing user could claim his/her time sensitive prize. But to an informed and aware user, the message also contained grammatical errors and a pressuring tone that should “tip us off” as being fraudulent.
Upon clicking on the phishing link, the user is redirected to the following webpage:
Again, we must be savvy in our tech-awareness at all times, on all sites, and in all tenses. The grammatical choice of “You are selected as the giveaway winner of my event.” Would be more professionally worded on an official document/contest website as “You have been selected as the giveaway winner of our event.” An online scam tip: take the time to evaluate what you are reading, because errant words or phrasing may reveal fraudulence.
At the very bottom of the page, there is a “Register Now” link.
Upon clicking on the ‘Register Now’ button, the following page is opened and displayed:
Common sense will always count for more than we give it credit for, and if an email says, “Please Wait you are a winner 100%”, then a little caution flag should wave in your mind signaling that perhaps you are not a “winner 100%” but rather the object of an online scam.
This site eventually redirects the user from an Ad Server to the following Signup page.
After creating an account and entering the created Username and Password it will then ask for Credit card details. (Hint: This is always a complete red flag.)
After entering your credit card details, a blank page appears. (If you have gotten this far in their “process”, it is fair to begin worrying.) The credit card information is then relayed to a control center where it will likely be accessed and maliciously used by the cybercriminals or malicious organization of individuals.
