A new ‘look who just died’ scam is locking unsuspecting users out of their Facebook accounts. It’s no news that cybercrime is on the rise, and social media platforms are the hot targets for cybercriminals. The new scam is a spear phishing attack where the victim receives a Facebook Messenger chat from one of the contacts saying look who just died with a phishing link to steal Facebook credentials. A 2019 Symantec study revealed that people are more susceptible to phishing attacks with emotional triggers, which is precisely what is happening here.
Don’t Click on Links in Facebook Messages Saying ‘ Look Who Just Died’
In this new type of Facebook scam, victims receive messages saying ‘Look who died,’ followed by a suspicious link, as seen in the image above. These messages are accompanied by shock and sad emoji, phrases like ‘I know you knew him’ or ‘Died in an accident,’ and so on. These emotional triggers trick the prey into clicking on the accompanying link. It’s clear that scammers are playing with the emotional side of unsuspecting victims, making them think someone close to them or know personally has died.
According to several Reddit users, the scam has existed for a while and continues to exist. The accompanying messages keep changing. However, the MO of the entire scam remains the same. While the ‘look who died’ Facebook scam is the most popular and potent emotional trigger, scammers sometimes change lanes and use phrases like ‘Look, it’s you in this video’ and other such messages.
Those who fall prey and click on the link are either hacked as soon as they click or asked for their Facebook credentials to access the news. Once they provide their credentials, hackers take over their accounts and lock them out. The buck doesn’t stop here, as the perpetrators then go on to send the same message and link to everyone in their contact list.
It’s advised not to click on suspicious links, even from someone you know. The best way to spot this scam is to look at the URL. If it looks like garbled alphanumeric series, steer clear of it. Lastly, the scam is not limited to Facebook, you might receive such messages on other social media platforms, SMS, and email as well.
