'Naked Woman Eaten by Shark' Video on Facebook Used to Spread Malware

In the latest in a growing list of Facebook scams, criminals are attempting to trick people into downloading malware onto their PCs by clicking on a link to a video purporting to show a naked woman being eaten by a shark.

The video -- entitled 'Naked Woman Eaten by Shark' -- is, of course, fake. Instead the real motive is to plant malware, which can interfere with the security settings, onto your computer.

Facebook users are lured in with a teaser image of a video which looks to be hosted on YouTube. If they click on the link they are brought to a website hosting multiple similarly shocking videos.

However, and here is the rub, to view the videos the website will tell you that a plug-in is required to be downloaded. As you may have guessed, this is not a plug-in but instead "a malware program that can hijack your browser, show malicious advertisements, and interfere with security settings on your computer" according to the website Hoax-Slayer.

According to a study by BitDefender, luring people in with violent content is one of the top five ways scammers are able to get people to click on malicious links on the social network.

Scams on Facebook are nothing new, with scammers typically using current news stories to lure people into clicking on insecure links. As well as being used to spread malware, a lot of these scams simply serve to bolster malicious advertising campaigns or download unwanted advertising bloatware onto your system such as browser toolbars, which only serve to clog up your system, hamper performance and in some cases even siphon off personal information.