Pinterest hit by survey scams

Pinterest has exploded onto the social networking scene as latest member of the burgeoning social media stable.

The skyrocketing popularity of the site isn't lost on cyber criminals, and the very nature of the site makes it vulnerable to exploitation by scammers, according to security company Symantec.

This is because it is driven by remediation of unknown links, and people are likely to open them as their network consists of people they know and trust.

At the root of the issue is that Pinterest is driven by a behaviour that is generally frowned upon from a security perspective - clicking on things. Users pin linked images to virtual corkboards, and followers click on the images to investigate - and are encouraged to re-pin it to their own Pinterest boards. 

So, what happens when someone inserts an image linked to a malicious script or site?

Survey scams are occurring on Pinterest.  These usually come with the promise of reward - "just take 30 seconds to complete our survey and we'll reward you with a $100 gift card". If a Pinterest user takes the initial bait and clicks on the image, he or she is redirected to an external website, and that is where the "fun" begins.

First, these scams require that the user re-pin the image to their own Pinterest boards in order to continue on to access the “survey” and earn the reward.

Re-pinning the image helps propagate it to a wider audience of Pinterest users who will likely click on the image as well because the person re-pinning it is a person they trust. This rapidly propagates the scam through a large number of users.

The concept of survey scams and other phishing attacks is certainly nothing new. The same security practices that shield users from attacks on Facebook, or Twitter, or the Internet in general apply on Pinterest as well.

How to avoid getting scammed?  Beware of surveys that require you to repost them to get a reward, and only repost images once  you are sure they are not scams.

Pinterest users should exercise some cautious skepticism and be careful. When a link starts taking you to sites that seem unrelated, or demand that you re-pin the image as well as a condition of learning more, that should be an automatic red flag.