The WhatsApp ‘Martinelli' scam is back and doing the rounds once again. Users of the app are forwarding a message to their contacts, which claims that a malicious video is going to be sent around with embedded malware. It is causing a bit of a ruckus, but there doesn't appear …
Read More »Twitter introduces new API restrictions to cut down on spam and abuse
Twitter has had a very public problem when it comes to spam, bots, and various other types of platform abuse. Twitter is now looking to crack down on these issues with added API restrictions to make sure only legitimate developers are using its tools. Twitter is in the process of …
Read More »Gmail users report spam emails sent from their own account
One of the main identifiers to spam emails is often the email address itself, usually containing a questionable domain. Unfortunately, things aren’t always as clear cut as that, as some Gmail users spotted that spam was coming from their own accounts. Despite having two-factor authentication, Gmail users found that their …
Read More »ICO puts gaming firms on notice over spam messages
The UK's Information Commissioner Office (ICO) has sent out notices to some 400 online gaming companies, demanding that they explain how they use customer data and what method they use for sending out marketing messages. It believes that too many gaming firms are effectively spamming their user bases, as well …
Read More »Facebook ‘spam king’ pleads guilty after sending over 27m messages
A man dubbed as the Facebook spam king has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and criminal contempt, having sent over 27 million commercially themed spam messages to Facebook users and then illegally accessing 500,000 of the accounts. The incidents took place between 2008 and 2009. The man behind the …
Read More »Three scammers charged with stealing 1 billion email addresses
The Department of Justice over in the US has announced charges against three individuals over the theft of more than 1 billion email addresses over a three-year period. According to the indictment, Vietnamese citizen, Viet Quoc Nguyan, broke in to eight different email providers, harvesting a ton of personal information. …
Read More »Facebook has managed to sue spammers for around $2 billion
Facebook is apparently in a constant legal battle against spammers abusing its network and so far, the company has managed to obtain around $2 billion by suing companies selling ‘fake likes' to page owners. According to a Facebook blog post, the social network has tools in place to render fake …
Read More »Facebook to crack down on clickbaiting
You've seen those headlines in your news feeds and dotted around the less reputable news sites out there: “the top X most Y things you've won't believe,” or “one quick secret that helped me lose/make belly fat/money.” They're irritating, vapid and never worth reading and Facebook knows it as much …
Read More »What happens to spam after you die?
It's an interesting question – and certainly something that can be classified, for now, as a ‘first world problem'. But, sooner or later, the question of ‘What happens to a person's data when they're dead' will come up for almost everyone on the planet. KitGuru plays the theme tune from …
Read More »Sexy, free, temporary email in an instant
We're surfing on the internet and you stumble upon a website that asks you for your email address. Wait. Stop. Does anyone else remember giving away their email address to a website a few weeks ago? Now every time you log onto your Hotmail you see a horde of spam. Say no …
Read More »Is Huddlebuy the most annoying spammer ever?
Adverts are a way of life. Indeed, we're constantly surrounded by messages to buy products. That said, in the right context/environment it's something that we roll with. Indeed, the right advert at the right time can be really useful. But spammers are in a different class. KitGuru hears about a …
Read More »Third biggest spam botnet shut down
The world's third largest bot net, known as Grum and thought to be responsible for around 18 per cent of the world's email spam, has been shut down. While the confirmation of the downing was made by security firm Fireeye, several other groups were also involved, including: anti spam network …
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