Generating followers, likes, and buzz around social media accounts is the dream of every holder, especially those who aspire to become “influencers.” However, the tools that promise to do that at a low or no cost at all should be treated with caution, as many of them are basically malware distributors.
CyberNews has discovered one tool of this type, which targets TikTok users, one of the hottest social media platforms at the moment. The tool promises tens of thousands of followers for free, overnight, no strings attached. That is except for the fact that it won’t boost your follower numbers, and it will just infect you with malware.
The tool features a user-friendly interface where people can comfortably set the number of likes, followers, and fans to generate for their TikTok username. The first sign of this being fake would be the requirement to select the “Account Device,” which should be totally irrelevant. When malware is to be planted on a device, though, this would be quite pertinent indeed.
Once the “Generate Now” button is clicked, the victim is taken to a new screen where they are requested to verify their accounts in one of the following ways:
Obviously, none of these options makes any sense or is even remotely connected to the verification of a TikTok account. CyberNews used a non-existent username, but that didn’t stop the tool from pretending that everything was fine, and they’re just a step away from getting thousands of new followers.
No matter which of the three options is clicked, what happens is a redirection to “shopontop[.]xyz,” where the victim is urged to download a Chrome extension with the same name. This extension changes search results and pushes affiliate links on top, making money for the crooks through clicks attributed to them.
In this case, things could be a lot worse, the malware could be more capable, and the actors could very easily steal their victims’ credentials by taking them to a phishing login page for TikTok. That said, you should ignore the promises of these shady tools. If you need to get a large number of followers quickly, there are legit ways to achieve it, but they are all far from being free.