Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
I often write about malicious mobile apps that were designed to cause all kinds of problems on Facebook, but I usually write about just one or two of them at a time.
But now a group of 25 very popular Android apps that were all written by the same company have been removed from the Google Play Store for stealing the Facebook login credentials of millions of unsuspecting users.
Question from Catherine: I have a big problem Rick. I clicked a link in a Facebook post and it must have infected my account with a virus because it immediately started sending out SPAM messages.
To be exact, the virus sent a spam message to everyone on my friends list. When I found out about it I changed my password, and everything seemed to be ok.
A few days later, I got married and changed my name on Facebook to my new last name. The next day Facebook deactivated my account.
Now Facebook wants to see a copy of my ID before they’ll reinstate my account.
The thing is I REALLY don’t want to give my drivers license out, especially since I’m not even positive that the message requesting to see it was even sent from Facebook.
Is there some way to get my Facebook account reinstated with just my cell phone number? Thanks.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
If it seems like the scammers of the world are getting more devious by the day, it’s because they are.
While Facebook, Twitter and many other popular social media sites are constantly being used as world-wide playgrounds for the miscreants, the ease with which they can can cause harm to innocent people grows by the day.
The latest dangerous scam involves posting a simple photo with accompanying text telling you to set the photo as your phone’s wallpaper image.
Just so you’ll know what to look for, this is the malicious image being spread that’s causing all the mayhem (DO NOT set it as your phone’s wallpaper!): [Read more…]
Question from Brenda T.: I have a very serious problem, Rick.
Someone keeps logging into my Facebook account and posting really nasty stuff on my Timeline and pretending that it’s me.
I have no proof, but I think it’s my ex. We parted on nasty terms.
I’ve changed my password several times but they always manage to get back in somehow and post more nasty things on my Timeline.
I know it’s not a virus because I ran all the scans listed in your virus removal post and no infections were found.
I’ve already lost several friends because of this. How can I stop it once and for all?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Do you use the ultra-popular video conferencing service known as Zoom?
If so, you should know that the login credentials for approximately half a million Zoom users are now being actively sold, traded and even given away on the dark web.
And yours could well be among them!