Facebook phishing scams increase risk of identity theft on the popular social network
Posted by Joe on March 27th, 2008
Thanks for visiting the NextAdvisor Daily blog. You may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.
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 profileâ€
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
- Facebook moves to protect users in partnership with 49 states
- Facebook security flaw exposes personal information
- Your new Facebook friend just stole your identity
- Facebook Identity Theft Protection Guide: 6 tips to protect your identity on Facebook
One Response to “Facebook phishing scams increase risk of identity theft on the popular social network”
Leave a Reply
Categories
- BeInSync (2)
- Blockbuster (3)
- Box.net (1)
- Carbonite (9)
- Child Identity Theft (4)
- Credit Report Monitoring (33)
- CreditCheck Total (8)
- Data Breach Alerts (50)
- Equifax (18)
- Experian (7)
- Free Credit Report (3)
- FreeCreditReport.com (7)
- H&R Block (5)
- ID Watchdog (1)
- Identity Guard (9)
- Identity Guard Good Start (1)
- Identity Theft Protection (102)
- Internet Security Software (2)
- Kroll Identity Theft Shield (1)
- LifeLock (30)
- Money Saving Tips (1)
- Mozy (16)
- MyFICO (3)
- NetFlix (10)
- NextAdvisor Guides (13)
- Online Backup Services (21)
- Online Colleges and Universities (4)
- Online Dieting (1)
- Online DVD Rental (11)
- Online Tax Preparation and Filing (9)
- ooma (3)
- Privacy Matters 123 (2)
- Reader Questions (12)
- State Identity Theft Protection Guide (5)
- TaxAct (1)
- TransUnion (5)
- TrueCredit (1)
- TrustedID (7)
- TurboTax (1)
- Uncategorized (2)
- VoIP (27)
- voip.com (7)
- Vonage (21)








June 5th, 2008 at 1:23 am
According to a press release from SoftBank Mobile, the Japanese service provider has secured an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Japan this year. The deal will ensure the iPhone’s first official access in Japan’s market.