Scammers Take to Tumblr

Scammers Take to Tumblr

Tumblr is quickly gaining popularity with spammers too, who use the social media platform as a vehicle to rob users.

Symantec Security Response has come across a spam campaign that is utilising a feature on Tumblr called ‘Ask’, where users’ followers can ask questions on their Tumblr blog. The feature is disabled by default, but you can enable it in your account settings and even allow anonymous comments. Spammers are attempting to take advantage of this feature to peddle their wares.

“WOW, I just lost a bunch of weight using the OFFICIAL TUMBLR DIET!! Are u using it as well? Check it out at [REMOVED][d0t]com”

Spam message utilising Tumblr's Ask feature

Above is one example of these scams. There’s no such thing as an official Tumblr diet. Instead, the URL provided in the spam message leads to a website that mimics a popular health magazine, espousing the benefits of a new diet pill.

Fake health magazine site promoting diet pill

The page is full of information about a “miracle pill” along with testimonials and links to sites for purchasing them.

Symantec recommends not attempting to purchase goods through offers like these.

Tumblr has implemented an ‘Ignore’ feature, where users can block the account, IP, and/or computer sending them. Overall, this spam should be treated the same way as any other ‘Ask’ or comment-related spam: do not answer such submissions, do not visit the URLs provided, and do not give any personal details to less-than reputable websites.

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