Fake link crashes web browsers

The latest social media scam is causing web browsers to crash and iOS devices to reboot automatically. Photo / iStock

A website link which crashes web browser Safari is making its way around social media.

The obviously-fraudulent link, crashsafari.com, is being used in conjunction with URL shorteners such as bit.ly and ow.ly by pranksters to conceal the websites' true intentions.

According to Wired, the site was created by 22-year old Matthew Bryant, a coder based in San Francisco, who discovered the bug and made the website as a joke.

CrashSafari targets iOS users by using Javascript code to overload the address bar with an infinite series of numbers, causing the crash.

It has been reported to affect other internet browsers outside of iOS, such as Chrome browser on Windows and Mac desktops and Android too.

The link is being posted on Twitter and other social media alongside 'clickbait' in desperate attempts to get followers to crash their internet browsers.

While the link does not cause any permanent damage, Twitter iOS app is now warning users that the link is "potentially harmful."

The crash has been reported to cause iPhones and iPods to reboot automatically.