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As you probably know, Facebook scams and hoaxes take many forms.
Whether they show up in your newsfeed or arrive in your Messenger inbox, the results are always the same…
Lots of folks either get scammed or they become very irritated due to the deluge of fraudulent messages they receive.
The latest hoax to come to my attention is being spread primarily via Facebook Messenger.
Have you been receiving a lot of strange voicemails via Facebook Messenger of late?
If so, those voicemails are likely carrying trojan malware that could infect your device if you take the bait and listen to them.
The scammers and hackers of the world have long been using Facebook and it’s associated Messenger app to distribute malware in various ways, and these infected voicemails are just the latest method they’re using to add a little misery to our lives.
On Sunday, March 15, a large number of text messages were apparently sent out from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcing a nationwide quarantine due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The National Security Council (NSC) quickly posted a tweet (embedded below) explaining that all those text messages were fake. [Read more…]
According to this recent report from the folks at Motherboard, several popular email apps are scanning user emails and then selling the data scraped from those messages to third party companies.
That sold data is then used by the purchasers to bombard the unsuspecting users with SPAM emails and even send physical junk mail to their homes or office mail boxes.
It seems like a new scam pops up on Facebook every day, and others seem to come and go in cycles.
Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous Facebook scams you’re likely to encounter is making the rounds yet again.
It’s called the ‘You’re tagged in this video!‘ scam, and although there are several subtle variations of it, they all work something like this:
Someone either makes a post on your timeline or sends you a private message stating that one of your friends has tagged you in a video. Naturally, you’re intrigued as to who the friend is and what the video is about, so you click the link to watch it.
After you click the link to view the video you receive a pop-up message stating that in order to see the video, you’ll need to download a software update or browser extension. Without giving it a second thought, you click the link to complete the download.
Congratulations! Your computer is now infected with one or more viruses, trojans and/or other forms of malware!
As always, the only way to truly protect yourself from falling victim to the criminals who perpetrate these scams is to be diligent and use extreme caution when deciding whether or not to click a link. Here are a few tips: [Read more…]