Osama Bin Laden Facebook/Twitter scams

MEMPHIS, TN - (WMC TV) - It's amazing what a punk in his momma's basement can do with Photoshop.

E-mails are pouring in from folks who've received unsolicited Facebook postings promising exclusive access to alleged photos or videos of the raid and assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Never mind that President Barack Obama announced the government will NOT release the photos or videos.

The postings contain breathless language about how the footage is "insane" or "crazy." One even includes an alleged picture of Bin Laden's lifeless face -- with the curveball that it came from the BBC, the British news agency.

They're all fake !! The real curveball is what will happen if you click on them or open any of their attachments.

"Just the act of clicking on it can download a virus to your computer and then who knows what they can do with a virus or some other sort of malware," said Randy Hutchinson, President/CEO of the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South. "In some cases, they may be asking you to provide some sort of information on the web site you click to, and then they're going to use that to commit some sort of identity theft."

If one of these Bin Laden scams crosses your Facebook page, for goodness sake, do not click on it.

Destroy it -- like we did Bin Laden.

If you ever receive an unsolicited Facebook posting with photos or video allegedly from a news source, STOP & SEARCH THE NEWS SOURCE.

If it says it came from the BBC, don't take it at its word. Go to the BBC's site and search for the content. If you can't find it, you'll know why not.

NEVER CLICK ON UNSOLICITED LINKS, even if they appear to be sent by one of your Facebook or Twitter friends. Chances are, someone hijacked your friend's account to make it look like your friend sent the links.

BEWARE CELEBRATION INVITATIONS ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER. Get Tweeted to attend a "Bin Laden is Dead" party? Don't reply! It's bait to unlock your account.

Unless your buddies are Woodward and Bernstein, they're not going to blow the lid off of the secret Bin Laden photos or video.

For more guidance on these types of scams, click here for the BBB's warning: http://www.bbb.org/us/article/bbb-warns-of-online-scams-in-the-wake-of-osamas-death-27130.

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