'R.I.P. Steve Jobs' Facebook Scam Exploits Users with Free iPad Offer

Even the demise of a momentously-important businessman can't remain untainted by scammers, as the recent 'Steve Jobs Death' or 'R.I.P. Steve Jobs' Facebook scam has shown. The latest Facebook scam uses Steve Job's death as the initial hook to get you to trust the 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam long enough for it to redirect you to irrelevant surveys and websites that create traffic-based revenue for affiliates. Although the 'R.I.P. Steve Jobs' Facebook scam's hook is both creative and immensely disrespectful, the ultimate payload doesn't differ from that of most other Facebook link scams, including the recent 'Two free Southwest Airlines tickets' Facebook scam. Our malware experts consider the best way to respect Steve Job's regretful loss is to exercise a level of certain computer savvy and avoid clicking the 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam's link at all.

'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook Scam - An Old-Fashioned Scam Scrawled Over the Memory of a Mac Entrepreneur

The 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam is, like many other types of particularly simple scams that are based on social networking, a simple social engineering-reliant message with an accompanying link that redirects you to irrelevant or malicious content. Links to 'R.I.P. Steve Jobs' Facebook scams can be spread by Facebook accounts that have been compromised by this scam or similar scams. As a result, even 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook Scam links that are posted by friends shouldn't be trusted.

The following message is the most common form of the 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam, which is posted on Facebook in the form of a status update:

In memory of Steve, a company is giving out 50 ipads tonight. R.I.P. Steve Jobs [MISLABELED LINK]

This message is just another 'free prize' scam that tries to use the memory of Steve Jobs as leverage to promote its surveys and other website services. Not only are there no free iPads being given out, but the prize that 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam links offer isn't even referenced in the links themselves, which steadily devolve into vague terms such as an 'exclusive reward.' There is no reward at the end of this rainbow, however, and all qualifications and prerequisites that 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam links request of you are fake.

Putting a Bullet into the Scam That Disrespects the Dead

The exact experiences of anyone who mistakenly clicks on a 'R.I.P. Steve Jobs' Facebook scam link can vary, since 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scams will direct to one of several sites instead of to a specific URL. Websites that you may come into contact with due to a 'R.I.P. Steve Jobs' Facebook scam include, but aren't restricted to:

• Fake survey websites.
• Sites that sell premium text-messaging features, such as horoscopes, of questionable worth.
• Sites that attempt to get you to sign up for special deals or offers that are exaggerated or even fake.
• Sites that attempt to steal personal information (including your Facebook login and your e-mail account name).
• Sites that promote fake software, such as rogue security programs, system defragmenters and fake search engine toolbars.

If you've contacted any of these types of sites or any other 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam link, our malware analysts suggest that you scan your PC for any potential threats that may have been installed via browser vulnerabilities. Once you've insured that your computer is clean, the only thing you need to do is avoid clicking on a 'Steve Jobs Death' Facebook scam's link in the future.