Doctor Who sex tape scam targets Twitter users

Jenna-Louise-Coleman The appointment of the new Doctor Who sidekick rapidly became a trending topic on Twitter earlier this week. However, cybercriminals were quick to try and exploit the popularity of the actress by posting tweets containing links pretending to point to sex tapes of Coleman.

Internet security expert from Sophos, Graham Cluly, spotted the scam and outed it on his security-focused blog.

“Human nature being what it is, you probably wouldn't be that surprised if some sci-fi fans clicked on the links out of err.. curiosity.

“However, the webpage you are taken to doesn't have any content (pornographic or otherwise) related to the Time Lord's latest sidekick. Instead, you'll find what appears to be a portal for an Asian hardcore porn video website.”

Cluley said the links led to videos masking a secret Twitter ‘follow’ button.

He said the trend would only get worse and next time, such links could lead to a webpage containing malware, a survey scam or a rogue application.

“Of course, it's Jenna-Louise Coleman today and will be someone else tomorrow. Twitter spammers are simply grabbing the latest trending topics and shoving them in their tweets in the hope that users will stumble across them and fall into their trap,” said Cluley.

Coleman, who rose to fame in the role of teen lesbian Jasmine Thomas in the soap Emmerdale, will star alongside Matt Smith's timelord in the BBC series.

Coleman's Doctor Who debut will be in the Christmas special after Matt Smith's current companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) has made what writer Steven Moffat describes as a "heartbreaking" exit in the fifth episode of 2012.

Coleman's other TV credits include 'Waterloo Road', in which she played disruptive sixth form pupil Lindsey James. She will also appear soon as Annie Desmond in Julian Fellowes' new ITV1 Titanic drama.

At a BBC press conference this week she said she was "beyond excited" to take the role, which she will start filming in May. She added that she had to become "quite a good liar" in the process of keeping the role a secret.

The Telegraph