I can remember the delicious feeling of being completely free of adult supervision on rare afternoons when I was an adolescent. My friend David and I would sit by a cedar tree in a cemetery on sunny Sundays and smoke cigars.
I date myself.
Obviously it was a long-off time when a 14-year old could walk into a drug store and BUY a cigar.
A web site (myfatherisonline.com) that promises just such tasty independence for kids is being advertised via Facebook posts: it claims to be a proxy service that can get around school and parental controls.
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The bad English in the initial advertisement alone is a hazard to children:
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We counted 248 posts advertising the URL in a 45 minute sampling of Facebook posts. Many were from the same accounts, so, this is probably being spammed from “owned” accounts as well as being circulated by Facebook users who took the bait. So, it’s hard to say if it’s going viral or just the subject of a major spam run.
Not good, especially for kids
It didn’t appear to even be a proxy. It just pasted an iframe with advertising over the page content from the URL you type in the box. It was an affiliate site loaded with malcode, links to cell phone subscription scams and other malicious or seedy stuff.
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“Pac-Man play the original” took you to a RetroGamer site and an installation of MyWebSearch.”
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Then there’s an IQ test scam that will cost you $9.99 per month on your cell phone bill if you want to see your results.
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“You have (1) message !” leads to a “Free 3G iPhone” site:
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There’s an opportunity to sign up for spam:
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And behind our browser window were three more with ads including “Get a $250 Amazon Gift Card FREE,” the “Womens (sic) Forum” and a site that promises “My magic lamp can grant your wishes.”
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Although the Aladdin site promised some great magic lamp action on our behalf (“Health, Love, Money) it turned out to be a horoscope subscription service billed to your cell phone for the usual $9.99 per month.
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What are they going to do next to lure kids: let them buy cigars in drug stores?
Tom Kelchner