BEWARE tweets about Barack Obama, the Australian Open and gun control this month - internet security experts say they're the top three buzzwords currently being used by cyber criminals to lure victims on social media.
And keep an eye out for posts mentioning the Super Bowl, Playstation 4 and The Ashes, topics predicted to be popular with canny cyber crims throughout 2013.
Research by tech security firm Trend Micro Australia has revealed this month's most popular keywords used by online scammers, who use them to make their tweeted links to malware and hacking sites seem legitimate.
Trend Micro cyber safety expert Aman Chand said big news events such as President Obama's inauguration and the tennis, which are widely discussed on social media, were easy targets for criminals to latch onto.
"Without a doubt, Christmas or any other widely celebrated sporting event such as The State of Origin, for example, will always be a favourite cybercriminal bait,'' he said.
"As well as inflicting the fear factor into Australians, cybercriminals are using smart tactics such as social media posts, fake mobile apps and harmful news videos to lure in their victims,'' he said.
Popular keywords in 2012 included "Whitney Houston'', "Instagram'', "Angry Birds'' and "Olympics''.
2013 BUZZWORD PREDICTIONS
Super Bowl
X-Box 720
Playstation 4
The Ashes
Lions Tour
Click Frenzy
Christmas2012
POPULAR BUZZWORDS
Whitney Houston
Tax Season
Law
Enforcement
Temple Run
Jeremy Lin
Android
Angry Birds
London 2012, Olympics
Tibet
Diablo 3
Space
iPhone 5
World of Warcraft
Obama
Christmas
Windows 8
Thanksgiving
Black Friday Sale
Cyber Monday Sale
Holiday
Bad Piggies
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