Don’t Take the Bait – Facebook Phishing Scams are on the Rise!
When logging into Facebook and checking in on your friends and family you become accustomed to going through a number of wall posts, shared links and direct messages. This is one of the aspects of Facebook that many of us love – the ability to keep in touch with a number of people in several different ways all in one place. And you want to think that everything you are clicking on is safe. Unfortunately, not everything on Facebook is safe and potentially dangerous scams are increasing on the world’s most popular site.
Nowadays you can’t just get click-happy without first being cautious, as Facebook has become quite the popular destination for crooks to scam innocent people. It’s easy to become a target as the manner in which they operate appears to be harmless.
Many people use the same password for virtually everything, and these con artists are wide aware of this. Taking this into account, they use various phishing tactics to gain access to your password; which in turn gives them access to practically everything, including your financial information.
Through various games, apps, and messages they catch individuals off guard by asking questions similar to the security questions asked by banking websites, which are supposedly sent from a Facebook friend.
The following are some of the biggest scams making the rounds on Facebook today.
“Who knows you best” – If you receive this message, don’t fall into the trap thinking its fun game a friend has initiated. These crooks use this technique to ask personal questions about you such as middle name, age, mom’s name, middle name, and so on. These clues are sufficient enough for hackers to take a stab at your password and possibly gain access to your financial info.
“Your friend just answered a question about you!” – It causes a whole domino effect on both the privacy of the supposed sender and yourself. To view the response, it requests access to your name, profile picture, wall, and essentially your entire Facebook page even if you aren’t utilizing their app. Once you have clicked to allow them access you’re stuck; their terms and condtions won’t let you to take it back. To top it off, to unlock the response it asks that you answer questions about various friends causing you to breach their privacy as well.
“LOL. Look at the video I found of you!” – Perhaps the most harmful scam involves this seemingly innocent message. While your innate reaction would be to immediately click through and see the latest online viral sensation, you should be leery as many people have fallen for this scam. Once you click on the clip, you’re asked to upgrade and it’s all downhill from there; that single click allows them to install malware on your computer. The malware then records your keystrokes. This allows the scam artists to determine what your passwords are.
“We’re stuck and need money” – It’s sent as an instant message claiming that the individuals are stuck in another country and need money. A simple call to a friend or family member of the supposed victim can easily ease you of any doubts concerning that person being in actual trouble.
Virtually any website can fall victim to the creative and malicious endeavors of hackers and scam artists and just because Facebook is one of the biggest sites in the world does not mean it is free from this. While Facebook works to combat the problem and upgrade its security, you should be very cautious of the links you click, messages you open and applications you allow to access your profile.
Category: In The News
Thanks for the information. I have received a few of the “Look at the video I found of you”. I DO NOT open anything I question.
You’re welcome Cindy. Thanks for reading my blog. I think that’s a good rule of thumb. If you question it at all, it’s best not to open it.
I keep telling my FB friends to please “not answer any questions about me”, but they won’t listen.. I have posted this article on my wall at least twice.. let’s see if the third time will work.