The changing landscape of online fraud: Long life #spam | The Economist
►http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=17519964&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe
“BitDefender, an online-security firm, set up fake profiles on the social network #facebook and asked strangers to enter into a digital friendship. They were able to create as many as 100 new friends a day. Offering a profile picture, particularly of a pretty woman, increased their odds. When the firm’s researchers expanded their requests to strangers who shared even one mutual friend, almost half accepted. Worse, a quarter of BitDefender’s new friends clicked on links posted by the firm, even when the destination was obscured.”