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Facebook Account Phishing On The Rise November 19, 2009

Posted by Andrew Wee in : facebook , trackback

Malware and spyware may be getting more prevalent on the Facebook social network and one of the ways in which it’s distributed is via viruses/spyware delivered via email.

Unless you’re deliberately posting colon cleansing or teeth whitening links on your friends’ FB walls and PMing them, this is what might happen:

facebook wall spam

It’s not as bad as the MySpace wall spamming (circa 2005-06), but it can be pretty annoying, especially since some of these external links may drop malware via on-page code.

Besides links embedded within Facebook, the main source of infection appears to be via email.

I got this email a couple of weeks ago:

Dear Facebook user,

Due to Facebook policy changes, all Facebook users must submit a new, updated account agreement, regardless of their original account start date.
Accounts that do not submit the updated account agreement by the deadline will have restricted.

Please unzip the attached file and run “agreement.exe” by double-clicking it.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Confirmation Code #: 58174803656

-

Aside from the mail originating from “support+ooookwvved@facebookmail.com” with “Received: from 91-66-90-201-dynip.superkabel.de ([91.66.90.201])”, there is a possibility that this phishing scheme originates from Russia/Eastern Europe, or it’s propagated to Germany.

In any case, besides someone gaining access to be able to post wall spam, I’d be concerned about any FB Ads campaign they might run. (Although given FB Ads poor record in approving ads, the phishers might be become headbangers (against the wall..))

So be aware and take care.

And yes, if you post spam on my wall, it qualifies for an automatic approval for unfriending (as the C2M  boys like to say).

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3 Comments »

Comment by MLDina
2009-11-19 11:12:07

LOL you mean most advertisers don’t try to promote Twilight colon cleanser, the Robert Pattinson edition?

Comment by Andrew Wee
2009-11-19 21:42:42

Nope.
Does ML?

 
 
Comment by Evans
2010-03-14 05:24:45

Spammers, hackers and all the other sorts have always been a step ahead of every software/website/security software ever since the dawn of the internet. & I guess its not going to change. Basically we are doomed, nothing is safe.

 
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