facebook “Eat for Free at Pizza Hut!” Internet Scam is Spreading Virally


By Cesar Ortiz- (Article first published in Yahoo! Contributors/ABC News) Thousands of facebook users are receiving the following message "Eat for Free at Pizza Hut!" from one of their friends who unwillingly posted this scam message to all his or her friends. The scam leads to at least a one "Work at Home advertising" that is designed to steal a user's personal information. The scammers change the contact link so fast that when we did a test, several schemes of pay per click and user information request show up, but all use the "Free Pizza Hut Eat for Free" scheme. Users that fall into this trap receive the following message: Beginning of quote
Eat for Free at Pizza Hut!
[LINK] changes to avoid facebook ban detection
Take advantage of this special Pizza Hut offer! Receive a FREE pizza coupon today! Act quickly before the supply runs out. With only a few coupons left, they'll go fast!
xx minutes ago
End of quote

The scammers went with very professional looking Pizza Hut Logos and graphics that will deceive someone that is in a hurry, don't read security blogs to know what is ahead, or is not very suspicious of scams. Users who receive this message from one of their friends will be taken to a very professional looking web page with a super pretty Pizza Hut logo that explains "that the offer will expire in a certain date or when the remaining xxx offers have been given out!".
In the same graphic, users are then presented with a two step option:

Step 1 is to click the "Share" button. At that point and time victims are sending the scam to all their friends, therefore propagating the scam all over the Internet.
Step 2 is to type "The greatest food!" at the "comments" window. Doing this step redirects your browser to a third party page (pay per click money for the scammers). Users are then taken to a "Work at Home" advertising page that before you make "Tons of Cash" you have to give the following data: Fist Name, Last Name, Address, Country, State, City, Postal Code, e-mail and Phone. After you provide all the information, there is no more communications from the web page and of course, there is no free Pizza Hut offer. As the saying goes, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

What the scammers do with all the personal information provided is anybody's guess.
Users who fall into this trap should do the following steps:

• (1) Remove any related items from your Facebook newsfeed wall page (2) Notify your friends and make sure you explain that you sent them the scam posting unwillingly (3) Run your Anti-Virus in full mode and set it to real-time scanning.

Opinion by the author - facebook bans scamming addresses (URL's), but scammers change them so fast that is very hard to cope with; incidentally, someone is using the Pizza Hut Logo in an illegal scam all over the Internet, Where is Pizza Hut or parent company Yum! Brands, Inc. the world's largest restaurant company? There is no mention of the scam on the Pizza Hut Facebook page. At least, they can publish a disclaimer or a warning regarding the scam. They sure have the money to hire resources to track this people using their trademark's logo in illegal internet scams. Are they waiting for someone to sue? If someone uses the Pizza Hut logo illegally in a newspaper or a media outlet outside the Internet, it will be a matter of hours before an army Yum! Brands, Inc. lawyers jump into action, why not do the same when it is on the Internet? Pizza Hut and other brands that know that scammers use their trademarks may not be legally bound to do anything, but practically and morally they are.

Name Brands Question My Comments Regarding a Brand Lax Attitude When Scammers Use Their Company Logo On The Internet

By Cesar Ortiz
An exclusive article that I wrote on the Yahoo-ABC News Network titled “Facebook Eat for Free at Pizza Hut! Scam is Spreading Virally” has stirred an out cry from some companies. In the article I comment that Pizza Hut or its parent company, Yum! Brands, Inc, the world's largest restaurant company, had done nothing to warn its clients of a major Internet scam using their company logo. Some other companies jumped into the bandwagon all claiming the same posture as follows; it is not the major brand responsibility to get into the act. It is the Internet Social Network carrier i.e. facebook, twitter or Google+ responsibility to handle the scam. “We are not in the IT business”. These corporate entities might be right on their assertion, but, may I ask, Why not then warn the public that their name brand is being used in a scam in their corporate and social web pages? The more users that are warned, the fewer victims we have. After all, users will curse the social carrier and the brand if their personal identifier data is stolen. One exception is Starbucks who always warns its clients of scams. That was the main objective of my article and still it is. We stand by what we commented on the article regarding some name brands attitude.

Twitter: iTunes Gift Card Scam Moves From Facebook to Twitter

By Cesar Ortiz

A variant of the familiar Facebook Free iTunes Gift card scam that we covered in this Blog on July 6, 2011 is back, but now is spreading virally in Twitter. The scam begins when users receive messages from their friends with enticing text that offer free iTunes Gift Cards. The message from the unsuspecting, already a victim, friend, read like the samples below:

(Beginning of quote)

“i have got,get yrs free iTunes Gift Card giveaway today [LINK]

wow,iTunes Gift Card got just today free lol [LINK]

awesome lol,today got iTunes Gift Card [LINK]

Your Chance to choose Your Best iTunes Gift Card [LINK]

Find out how to get a iTunes Gift Card! [LINK]”

(End of quote)

Unsuspecting users who click on the friend’s message about the “Free iTunes Gift Card” will trigger the scam hidden script immediately. According to security researchers, all of the scams will show a profile of a pretty female photo, at times wearing very few clothes or a bikini. The very professional looking window will tempt users to follow the lady, sometimes called Milda Fountaine or Lucy Adams with interesting feeds of tweets like quotes of the day, but inserted in the feeds is one that says:

 “[Blue letters link] Milda Fountaine2-Milda Fountaine awsome lol  today got iTunes Gift Card

www.arks.in/ogtd

xx minutes ago"

Users who click on the blue link before the Milda name in the hope of receiving a Free iTunes card will immediately send the same message that they just received to all their friends, therefore propagating the scam. After clicking the blue link, users will receive an enticing advertising or form related to the user location country and city. It could be an offer for a Friends Club, Dating Club or any male oriented  “pay per filled form” site that unsuspicious or shady merchants contract the scammers for. If you clicked on to “Follow” Milda Fountaine, you have given permission to the scammers to play and even hack your Twitter account. Another option is to invade you and your friends with scam offers. Please beware that a malware (virus, password, credit data hacks) link can be inserted anywhere in the scam, therefore creating a more serious problem. There is no iTunes Free Card anywhere.

To remove this hack from your Twitter account, (1) Go to the Twitter Website page, log-in to your profile (1) Click on your user window pull down arrow at the top right of the menu where your thumbnail picture is ( 2) Select “Settings” (3) Select “Applications” (4) “Revoke Access” to any related scam application (if any) (5) Delete all related tweets (6) Contact and help your friends to clean up their accounts (7) Run your Anti Virus in Full Scan mode.

Facebook “ Free Apple iTunes $25 Giftcard “ Scam Spreading Virally

Thousands of users worldwide are being taken to this scam whose only purpose is to earn money for the scammers. There is no free lunch anywhere, let alone the “free Apple $25 iTunes Giftcard. Victims are taken to real surveys that pay scammers money. The scam runs as follows:

Victimized users are posting messages in their walls that read:

“Free $25 Apple iTunes Giftcard

Bonusitunesgiftcard.blogspot.com

Limited time left, get yours now!”

Lets assume that you are the victim, when you click on the blue “Free $25 Apple iTunes Giftcard” link, you are taken to a webpage with an official Apple “man with the iPod” logo that urges you to follow two more “easy steps”, remember, you already clicked on one link (step 1), the second step is to click on an official Facebook “Share This” button to get your free card. When you click on step 2, you are then presented with a window with an  image of the real Apple $25 Giftcard and a Facebook “Share this link on your own wall” blue button, when the button is clicked, the Facebook interface will immediately send the same message you receive originally to all your friends, therefore propagating the scam.

The “last” step to “get your card” is step 3. Now you are presented with a window with a real Apple logo imagery so that you may think the “free card” campaign is endorsed by Apple. When victimized users click on the “finish by taking a survey” blue button, you are presented with a professional looking window that even has a “need help?” option. This window has a locked key image and is titled “Content Locked”, at this time, users should be suspicious, you followed three steps and no Giftcard yet?

Users are then told to select from three “offers” from winning an iPhone, a Mercedes or a Gucci shopping spree. You are then taken to a survey that could be on any subject. No one ever has received anything for taking the survey. What can you expect when you are taken by deception to a survey? As stated above, the surveys are real; therefore the scammer gets money for each survey taken.

To clean this mess, victims should do the following:

(1)  Go to your Facebook page and select your “News feed” and delete the related post by clicking the blue “Remove Post” button.

(2)  Notify your friends to follow the same steps.