Social-networking sites like Facebook where you can stay in touch with old friends may not be as friendly as you think. Facebook “friends” could actually be hackers, scammers, ID thieves or viruses.
“Social-networking sites can be fun and have some obvious benefits like re-connecting with old friends, but you have to exercise caution,” Better Business Bureau president Lynda Pasa-creta said yesterday.
Pasacreta said scammers often take advantage of the fact that most people think they can trust the folks they meet on social-networking sites when, in fact, they could be out to steal personal information such as bank or credit-card numbers.
The BBB saw three main online schemes:
1- Friends in Distress
2- Phishing Friends
3- Viral Wall Post.
Friends in Distress
The Friends in Distress scam has made the move from phone and e-mail to Facebook. Facebook users often get a message from a friend saying they are in a dire situation and need money wired to them. In reality, the friend is a scammer.
Phishing Friends
“Any time you see someone say, ‘Wire me money,’ that should send a red flag up,” said Pasacreta. “You have to take the emotion out of it and step back.” The scheme called Phishing Friends involves a virus called Koobface and people getting a message from a supposed friend saying: “You look awesome in this video” or “You look funny in this video” and asks them to click on a link to an outside website.
The website claims that people must have an updated version of Flash to view the photo or video, but it also introduces a virus designed to monitor Internet activity and steal personal information. Some victims have had such a hard time removing the virus they’ve actually scrapped their computer.
Viral Wall Post
“That Koobface is nasty,” said Pasa-creta. “Be careful which links you click on.” In the Viral Wall Post, Facebook users are contacted by a so-called friend with a message of warning like, “Do you realize your photo is all over [a website]?” But clicking on a link to the website allows hackers to gain access to the user’s personal account and send the same scam to the user’s friends.
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My research documents reports of the Koobface worm infecting (or attempting to infect) workplace-related computers by way of Facebook. Employers/organizations thus have security as a reason to block social network sites. –Ben