I don’t know how many other people have received this questionable BBC email, but in case you still haven’t, perhaps a word of caution will come in handy.

The email comes from, at first glance, the BBC, inviting you to give access from your laptop/desktop webcam to the ‘BBC’ so that they can “show you videos and monitor your reactions…”

At first glance, you would have to be gullible to fall for something like this, but in case you have any doubts, don’t accept the sender’s email address at first sight, although it appears to be from BBC Global Minds – you just need to click or hover over the sender to find out it is in fact from info@maduedr.com. Are they part of the BBC?

The text of the apparent scam is as follows:

“Thank you for opting into further research on a recent BBC survey that you took part in. We have a survey for you to participate in. The topic is related to consumer technology and brands, and as part of this we are keen to understand how you connect with BBC and our advertising partners.

As part of the questions, we will be asking you to use a webcam on your desktop or laptop so that we can show you some videos and capture your reaction to them. By using your webcam we can better understand your reaction to the videos. Data from your webcam will be automatically analysed by computer and mixed with those from other people who take part in this study, making your reaction anonymous.

Please use either a Chrome or Firefox browser on a desktop/laptop to take part – and make sure to have your webcam ready!”

So, there you have it. If you want to click on the ‘survey’ and invite somebody to take control apparently of your webcam… and God knows what else, then it is your call. If it is a bona-fide BBC survey, then with Internet users having to be on their guard against a constant bombardment from scammers, they could package it differently

(News: Editorial)