Fake Headlines Try to Trick Us Into Clicking on Clickbait

Just to clear something up, Melissa McCarthy of the popular TV series “Mike & Molly” is not dead. She is alive and well and still making movies. In addition, the series was not cancelled because she lost so much weight, and she did not lose that weight by using some “incredible” weight loss product. All of those headlines you may see on the sides of the screen when you look at Facebook or other social media sites are clickbait. And it’s likely to get worse as the holiday shopping season gets into full swing.

Clickbait is something that intends to be shocking enough that people will click on the ad or headline to see what is behind it. It makes the reader or viewer think that he or she just has to know more about it. However, what are almost always behind it are ads for some product someone is trying to sell or worse, some type of malware.

If you are reading a headline that seems outrageous or so fantastic that it’s hard to believe, it most likely is. If you click on it, you are taking a risk of executing some type of malware. What that could do is anything from spying on you to recoding keystrokes to capturing all the information stored on the computer, to holding your device ransom until you pay some amount of money to get your data unencrypted (ransomware).  At best, the company behind the ad captures your browsing information and spams you with more ads to buy products.

So, when you see clickbait, make sure it’s worth it to you to see what it’s all about. Most of the time, it’s not worth that risk.

For this particular rumor, the clickbait is marketing a weight loss product for which there is no evidence that it actually works. And neither Jessica Simpson (also used in these clickbait ads) nor Melissa McCarthy used the product. They both lost their weight the old fashioned way; by eating well and exercising. There really is no magic pill or solution.  So get off that couch and give me 20!