Facebook phishing scams increase risk of identity theft on the popular social network

Posted by Joe on March 27th, 2008

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Several sources began reporting a phishing scam this week targeted at users of Facebook.

Impacted users are seeing wall posts, messages that any visitor to a Facebook profile page can leave for the page's owner, with the following message:

"Hey, I got a new facebook account. Im going to delete this one, so add my new profile"

Accompanying the message is a link to a site that appears to be a Facebook login page which prompts users to enter their Facebook username and password. This page is NOT associated with Facebook and it is likely that the goal of the scam is to get Facebook users to expose their login information. As we discussed in our Facebook identity theft protection guide, this information can be the gateway to identity theft or worse.

What makes this type of phishing attack so potent is that the messages appear to come from friends of the Facebook user receiving the message while, in fact, they are coming from some criminal third party.

We strongly suggest that Facebook use caution when clicking on any links within messages received within Facebook. It is also a good idea to verify any messages you receive from Facebook friends through some other communication channel such as email or phone.

Learn more in our Facebook identity theft protection guide and guide to identity theft protection services.

• How to report a fake profile page on Facebook
• Fake Facebook profile page victim awarded $43,000 in damages
• Facebook exposes personal information of up to 80 million members
• Facebook Identity Theft Protection Guide: 6 tips to protect your identity on Facebook
• Facebook moves to protect users in partnership with 49 states