'Free' Online IQ Tests Scam Users into Fee-Based Services

For those who have the time, online quizzes can be a lot of fun. However, users should beware any quiz that asks for personal information in exchange for the results of a test. This means that in addition to your score, users could be placed on an emailing list to receive unwanted junk email messages, or worse.

It is no wonder that the recent spike in popularity of IQ tests over instant messaging services has caught the attention of cybercriminals everywhere. Instead of infecting systems with viruses and malware though, these scammers are using an underhanded sales trick to get people to sign up for services they neither want nor need.

IQ Quiz Actually a Scam

Spammers are using an IQ quiz that asks users to click through 11 questions in total. The quiz takes an unusual twist when it asks users to provide their mobile phone number to get their results. (Source: report-online-scams.com)

Having taken part in one of these quizzes, Trend Micro fraud analyst Christopher Talampas read into the Summary of Terms at the bottom of the quiz page. It said that by providing their mobile phone number, users were consenting to a "mobile content subscription".

Talampas noted that the subscription fee ranged from $9.99-$19.99 a month before shutting down his system and recording his findings.

One of Many Recent Sales Tricks

The questionable "mobile content subscription" is one of the many varying sales tricks that cybercriminals have been using as of late.

A new Trojan was identified recently by Sunbelt Software, masquerading as a comparison of common antivirus services. Not surprisingly, the products that appeared to perform the best turned out to be rogue antivirus products that the scammer was peddling. (Source: itpro.co.uk)

Security officials are once again urging users not to provide any personal information unless completely certain that the receiving party comes from a legitimate source.