Free iPhone X, watch out for online scams

A new scam is circulating on social media, including Facebook and Instagram, the aim is to convince users to enter their data to receive an iPhone X

A new scam has been discovered on the Internet by cybersecurity researchers from ZeroFox . The malicious ones this time contact the user with a fake message of winning an iPhone X. Of course, it's not true, the ploy only serves the hackers to collect the victims' data.

The scam attempt is running mostly on social networks, especially Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Google Plus. It consists of an ad that draws the user's attention while browsing on social, if the victim clicks on the hyperlink in the advertisement he is redirected to the malicious site where he has to enter his data to receive an iPhone X. Which, of course, will never arrive. The aim of cyber criminals is not only to receive information from the user but also to spread viruses. Out of 532 websites containing fake smartphone vouchers analyzed by ZeroFox, in fact, 74 also contained malware.

How to defend yourself

Unfortunately, defending yourself against these scams circulating on social media is not difficult. First, let's remember that on the Web, nothing will ever be given to us for free. Much less an iPhone X. That is, a smartphone of the latest generation that is not yet released on the market and whose value exceeds one thousand euros. Secondly, we check well the text of these fake winning messages. They often contain grammatical errors or catchphrases to lure us into the trap. We then use a tool to check the reliability or otherwise of attachments and links in the message. In this way we'll avoid downloading malware on our device. Finally, we can use applications and sites to verify even the URL of the site that promises a free iPhone.

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