So many Facebook scams in 2014 have been a little worrying even though at first they all seem innocent enough, but these are social scams to lure users in to gain money or access to computers.
One particular Facebook scam this year was the “Robin Williams goodbye video”, which was apparently made before his death. This fake BBC News video is a scam and no such video exists.
The “Robin Williams goodbye video” started to circulate on Facebook and asks users to share the video before they can watch it, DO NOT click on it. There is no video so no point on sharing it, Symantec explains in detail that when Facebook users click on the video it asks them to either fill out a survey or install an application. When the survey is complete the scammers gain money for each one completed.
Do not open any app offering to change your Facebook’s color because it is a scam. The Facebook color blue may be getting a little boring for some and may like a change; this is where a new web app could come in handy.
If you come across the “Facebook color changer” or “Facebook Colour Changer” DO NOT open this at all, it will hijack peoples Facebook accounts. It has already been reported it has accessed over 10,000 FB accounts so far; this is malicious software done in two steps. The first step process is when users click to allow the app access to the users Facebook profile, the second step is where the first step has been declined and asks the user to download anti-virus software.
If anyone has followed the tutorial video on how to use the “Facebook colour changer” it is advised to change passwords immediately, you should also remove the app from your profile from the Facebook app settings.
Another Facebook scam will trick users and then access accounts, in a nutshell you basically hack yourself. It cleverly lures Facebook victims into believing they can access anyone’s account using three simple steps. The scam starts of by asking users to open Facebook in a web browser then visit the person they wish to hack, with a few simple steps such as right-clicking anywhere on the page after doing the above and then via the pop-up menu select “Inspect Element”. Once this has been done it will open an HTML editor, it is within this editor users are instructed to copy-paste a string of code provided – The code does not work, never has and never will.
Whilst on the subject of Facebook scams we recommend you keeping an eye on these ones, anything to do with these please do not click on them. 1) A Facebook app that allows you to see total profile views and visitors, 2) There is another scam titled ‘Rihanna sex tape with her boyfriend’, 3) Free-T-shirts when you Check my status update (Just another scam), 4) You can check if a friend has deleted you.
The above are only a few Facebook scams, there are thousands but these are more recent. Do NOT click on anything you are not sure about, especially when it says share this video to view it (Unless it is a trusted website).
What Facebook scam have you come across lately?