Identity theft, computer hijacking,
credit card fraud, and destructive malware to destroy our data. Scams
have always plagued us on the Internet and World Wide Web. The people
that run these scams are always out to target the largest number of
people at one time.
For this reason social networks have
been the main target. Facebook being the largest of the social
networks has been especially lucrative for scammers. The following
are some of the most prevalent scams to watch-out for as you interact
with your Facebook friends:
- Subscription fee hoax: Every few month there are these post going around telling us that Facebook is going to charge us for our accounts. The truth is Facebook does not now and will not start charging its users. This is phishing scam intended to get personal information.
- Free offer scam: We see these quite often where you can click on a link to get a free smartphone, tablet, or some other gadget. If you click on these they either take you to a third party site to get you to sign up for thing, download malware on your computer, or trick you into giving out personal information.
- Privacy policy scam: This has been going around the last few months. Usually, you will see a post telling you about a new policy change that will put your privacy in danger. Sometimes, the people that run the scam even go as far as contacting victims with a personal message. In either of these is just a way of trying to get personal information and possibly take over your account.
- Clickjacking scam: These have been around for a long time. You run across a video, celebrity's picture that promise some outrageous story, or any number of enticements. By clicking on these you could be downloading malware or tricked into doing any number of unwanted actions.
- The dislike button: There was a story not too long saying that Facebook will be introducing a new “Dislike” button. The story is true but the scam going around telling people they can download the “Dislike” button.
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