McCartney Times

WE CAN WORK IT OUT? Facebook admits it was ‘tricked’ into posting sick ‘malicious advert’ about suicide of Paul McCartney Social network says it was hoodwinked by heartless scammers who wanted to earn a quick buck by spreading false rumour by Lauren McKinney 6th April 2017, 2:37 pm Updated: 6th April 2017, 3:30 pm FACEBOOK has admitted it was tricked by a “malicious advertiser”But shocked social media users who clicked on the post were taken to a phishing page which claimed their computer was infected and gave a freephone number to call.

The number took them through to “Microsoft technical support” but Microsoft confirmed today that the so-called experts on the other end of the line are scammers.

The fact that Facebook was tricked into carrying such a shocking fake ad will increase concern that the social media giant is not doing enough to police content on its site.

It is already under fire over its alleged failure to act after inappropriate content – including material posted by terrorist sympathisers – is flagged up.
The post appears in the usual advertising slots at the side of the Facebook homepage with a picture of the star captioned “Sir Paul McCartney Suicides” followed by a link to the supposed article.
The “check-this-news.com” link takes users to a phishing page warning their computer has been blocked and providing an 0800 number.
The call is answered by scammers who then try to obtain personal information.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said: “That sounds like a scam to me as we would never contact our customers in that way. They are probably using the Microsoft name to lull people into a false sense of security but it definitely has nothing to do with our company.”

Source: Facebook admits it was ‘tricked’ into posting sick ‘malicious advert’ about suicide of Paul McCartney