Cork Safety Alerts

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Public Alert: Social Media Data Harvesting Scam

ByCork Safety Alerts

Mar 30, 2016

PUBLIC ALERT: Data Harvesting Scam

We’ve previously reported on these scams in the past but it has come to our attention that another information collection / phishing / data harvesting – social media event page is currently circulating in Cork with the title “Project X Freshers House Party – Cork“

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There is a number of these events currently circulating in the UK and similar events setup in Ireland.

The scams are known for data harvesting by collection on a web form.

There appears to be a new pattern in the data collection with this event. Rather than using a form, you are required to join a closed Facebook group. Once joined, you’re encouraged to provide information such as your name, location and college/university. All information which can be used for marketing purposes.

DUBLIN: 

CORK:

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Notice how the same user appears to be attending both colleges, studying different courses?

On these groups, there are a few users who appear to be posting that they are attending local colleges and universities, however the same users comment on each and every event

Each of these events listed gain quite a lot of attention, seen above from the Cork event it has 1K interested parties, with 452 registered as “going” to the event.

These types of scams are known for “data harvesting” for marketing companies and chances are your information is being sold off to marketing agencies or the page itself will have its name changed in the future and sold.

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They seem to be setup for a number of Irish cities including Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Similar events have popped up for the UK (similar to Total Wipeout Tour and the Branded Clothing Warehouse Sale.)

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If something seems too good to be true, it probably is! Some pointers on these Facebook event scams:
 
⇥ Facebook Event Scams are used to generate likes and interest. Further down the line, the page may be sold to a company or the name of the event changed to something else to keep the interest up so the page can be used for advertising / marketing.
 
⇥ Your personal details are sold by the creators of the scam to marketing companies, who can use these details for advertising and marketing campaigns.
 
⇥ If you see an event with a set date, but no venue then it’s more than likely a hoax.
 
⇥ Any company hosting an event will display some, if not all of the following: Company Registration Number, VAT Number, Official Address, Phone numbers. Any company / event that doesn’t have these listed are more than likely scams.

Remember DO NOT click on any links provided by these social media events. DO NOT submit any personal information on a web form / group unless you are 100% sure of who you are sending the information to.

What do I do if I have already sent my information?

  1. If any credit or debit card information has been sent, call your issuing financial institution and have them cancel the card immediately.
  2. If a password has been submitted, immediately change any other passwords to other online services which may be similar to the one used in the phishing scam.
  3. Ensure your anti-virus software is up to date so that any further phishing websites are brought to your attention before you submit your information.

If in doubt, check it out! Contact Cork Safety Alerts and we can have one of our administrators do some digging / investigating first.

By Cork Safety Alerts

Administrator of Cork Safety Alerts.