It is said that scams reach users in waves. A wave is
composed of multiple URLs leading to applications having
features nearly identical, diffusing with a message near
identical for a short time.
The success of a wave of scams based on the association between engineering
viral and social power. Bait based on the same subject (for
example the very popular "Find out who has viewed your profile") are designed
to trigger the desired emotional reactions and involve a
large number of targets.
The effects are obtained by promoting viral dissemination mechanisms
using altered functionality of the platform, as in the case of
diversion of tag (see b) Diversion of tag).
The results can be impressive.
Find out who has viewed your profile. a very
short case study
• 286 unique URLs per wave, on average.
• 14 unique Facebook applications, on average. (apps.facebook.com / app_uniq)
• 1,411,743 clicks collected (depending on URL shortening services)
• Peak of distribution of each URL reached after 34 hours.