Lady Gaga’s free iPad contest is a hoax
December 22nd, 2011 - 12:00 am ICT by Aishwarya BhattNew York, Dec 21 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Fans who flooded the official Facebook page of pop singer Lady Gaga were disappointed when they learnt later that the account had been hacked. In a series of posts, the hackers promised Gaga’s 45 million fans that she is planning to give out her special iPad version in three days.
Contest rules on the page were directed to a Blogpost page which raised the suspicion that the post might be faked. Facebook quickly took down the post. Gaga’s Twitter page was also hacked to promote the same campaign.
Technology security firm Sophos first noticed the hack. Graham Cluley from the firm told reporters that before Facebook took down the post, the link had already been clicked by numerous users.
Cluley said that, “However, that wasn’t quick enough to stop some people from clicking on the link — in the mistaken belief that they might receive a free iPad from the eccentric singer… Anyone who clicked on the link, and filled in online forms, may have unwittingly handed their personal information to scammers and potentially helped them earn revenue by completing online surveys.”
The hackers have also reportedly used similar strategy on the Facebook accounts of bands like Blink-182, Maroon 5, All Time Low and Lifehouse.
The threat was later removed and Gaga started tweeting again.
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