yknow, the ones that are like “HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA”. what would happen if one clicked on them?

  • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The vast majority of the time, not much. It will take you to a dodgy website which will make you think you need to pay something like a membership fee to access.

    Sometimes they will direct you to a fake tech support page where they make you run some form of remote access tool. Which again you need to pay for so expect unexpected charges.

    Drive by malware is extremely rare these days with web browser sandboxing it prevents the payloads from working.

  • IWW4@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    The redirect will send you to a site that will install malware on your device or the site will start the Social Engineering processes.

    Bottom line , at some point they will ask for money.

  • NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com
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    1 day ago

    Not all of them do the same things. Attackers have different motives.

    Some want to get you to install malware onto your computer. That malware could do things like install a keystroke which is a program that monitors your keyboard input and can do things like guess credentials (email + password) and steal and send them elsewhere, also get other valuable pieces of information like a Bitcoin wallet address to serving some other purpose on the computer. Some malware will sit there and quietly try running programs on your computer. These could range from Bitcoin miners that steal your computer’s resources to mine Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency for the attacker or to be used in a botnet that essentially turns your computer into a zombie for the attacker’s bidding. Some malware will play quiet and capture screenshots similar to the keystroke monitor and then report back with its findings.

    Some want you to install adware on your computer that endlessly spams you with ads as they get paid for those ads being shown.

    Some don’t want to install malware but want to directly steal your information. They send you to a fake dating website and you sign up for the “service” which is you giving them your valuable information. Some attackers do this to steal your credit card information and others do this to steal your personal information. Some do it just to get you to share your email address so they can send you more spam and they get paid for that from other third parties.