Pinterest, beware of fraudulent campaigns by Apple and Ikea

It’s called Pinterest and it is the social network of the moment that bases its fame and strength on the virality of images. It is the social network that has grown the most recently, even surpassing Facebook.

The frantic growth, however, has shown some cracks. There is an alert, in fact, for advertising campaigns that are currently under attack by pranksters and carry the names of well-known brands. 

The alert was launched by G Data SecurityLabs which discovered several scams in the name of Ikea, Apple e H&M. The campaigns have been propagated on the pinboards of the many users who daily sign up to the social network, invited to share some gifs cards. 

The growth of Pinterest exposes the social to fake profiles and initiatives that can be labeled as spamming, there is no doubt about this, highlighting what is considered a long-standing problem of social platforms. 

Consider that Pinterest has grown in our country by 52% just in the month of March, which is still ongoing, and it is the fastest expanding Italian site. Pinterest, which has American roots like many social platforms, collected nearly 18 million registrations in Italy in February (data Comscore) and, given the dizzying growth, it is (unfortunately) leaving itself open to scammers.

In this specific case, it is very clear what the scam consists of: extorting personal data, later sold to third parties, obtained through illicit techniques such as image sharing. Pinterest, on the other hand, being a new tool represents an interesting element for scammers who can count on users’ lack of familiarity with the social network.

G Data SecurityLabs has launched its own guide to follow to avoid unpleasant surprises. In particular:

• use antivirus, a firewall, antispam, scan for http addresses, real-time protection
• do not enter your personal data on these types of sites because they could be used for other types of fraud and sold to other scammers;
• do not click on links and do not make downloads if you receive messages in a foreign language
• when accessing a social network, it is preferable not to browse the Internet with the same browser. Someone with bad intentions could, in fact, manipulate the browser session and spread unwanted messages;
• always log out after visiting a social network;
• if you are the victim of this type of scam, it is necessary to delete the shared link as soon as possible, otherwise your contacts may contribute to fueling the fraud.