Hackers burn location-baring dating app's users!

  • 7 April 2014
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Hackers are abusing the popular Tinder dating app to spread malware and survey scams using bots and clever social-engineering trickery. Bots are luring users with tempting profiles and pictures using pictures from an Arizona-based photography studio, according to net security firm BitDefender. Some of these images have also been purloined for fake Facebook profiles.
 “After users swipe the right button on Tinder to indicate that they like a profile, the bots engage users in automated conversations until they convince them to click on a dubious link”, explained Catalin Cosoi, chief security strategist at Bitdefender. “The name of the URL gives the impression of an official page of the dating app and for extra legitimacy scammers also registered it on a reputable .com domain”.The scam is geo-specific: British users are lured to fraudulent surveys and dubious competitions for ASDA and Tesco vouchers, while Tinder users in the US are brought to the “Castle Clash” game download.
A typical bot-generated US lure message, republished on BitDefenders' HotForSecurity blog, reads: 
"Hey, how are you doing? I’m still recovering from last night 🙂 Relaxing with a game on my phone, castle clash. Have you heard about it? Just click here: "xxxxxxxx" (URL adress) , play with me and you may get my phone number".
 
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I just came up with a new idea for a compliment based on this:  You're hot enough to be a Tinder malware bot! 🙂

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