Osbama bin Laden's death is sparking a series of cyber scams, particularly on Facebook, where evil-doers take advantage of trusting friends do harm.
"When people are searching on Google and they're clicking on top results, when news events are happening, they need to keep in mind that the Web is still a wild place," said Kurt Baumgartner, senior security researcher for security firm, Kaspersky Labs.
In searches for "Osama bin Laden," in Google Images, one of the highest results could direct traffic to a malicious website ready to infect their computers. And, in a particularly vile maneuver, one of these nasty scams convinces users their device is already infected with a virus and then seeks payment for fake anti-virus software -- a triple threat of trickery, paying to fix something that isn't wrong in the first place, and then having users' credit card information for future misdeeds.
Facebook is often helpful in perpetuating the scams using friend lists on users' accounts. A fake BBC link promising live video is luring users to unknowingly post the link to their Facebook account, adding to its exposure and credibility.
As Facebook users "like" ads, they inadvertently expose their contacts to the criminals' grasp and help the crooks collect email and other valuable information, and according to Sophos security firm, they even unwitting pay the criminals with each future click.
Avoiding these scams boils down to awareness and knowledge of the hallmarks of the scammers. Along with promises of lewd or shocking content, many advertise a voyeuristic opportunity to see who likes or doesn't like the intended victim, and "see who viewed your profile!" continues its reign as a favorite scam.
Common sense tips like looking closely before clicking on anything remotely odd and hovering cursors over links to check the addresses match, are easy enough to employ.
And in this particular case, as of this writing, no official photos or videos of Bin Laden's body have been released, so news to the contrary should trigger skepticism.
The terrorist's death is not the only news to be exploited. Scammers recently used Twilight's Edward Cullen in a similar scheme on Facebook. Twitter users were treated to a spam blast earlier this month, exposing them to requests for survey information from unscrupulous marketing firms, and offers to see who had "unfollowed" them.
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