Researchers have discovered that putting third-party links to scam sites on Facebook fan pages are making $200 million a year for spammers. The Guardian reports that an Italian team has investigated links shared on Facebook, like the well known ‘Click here for a free iPhone’ scam, which lead to sites outside Facebook.
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Many spammers use URL shortening services like Bitly so users can’t see where links are pointing to. These third party sites sometimes have genuine scams that try to trick users into paying for a fake product – like WhatsApp for Windows that we reported on earlier this year. Other links point to pages that make money from Google Ads. Even linking to YouTube videos can generate cash, thanks to YouTube’s revenue sharing model.
Scammers set up fake fan pages, and then share content to attract fans. On a page with 30,000 fans, scammers earn around $13 per link shared. Companies pay fan page admins to link to their dubious sites and offers, which suggests that the third party sites make even more than scammers on Facebook.
There is big money in Facebook scams, which explains why there are so many of them. As we have said before, you have to be careful before clicking on shared links. Facebook says it is taking steps to crack down on spam and scams, but scammers will always be looking for new ways to trick users.
[Source: The Guardian]