Is Facebook the Heaven for Scam?

Social networking is a platform to make friends, express your views and share information. But soon after the launch of social sites such as Facebook, it has become the hot destination for criminals and scammers. Though they are the fastest sources of communication, they do have a serious problem with spam.

If you are a Facebook account holder, then you might be fully aware of the odd emails you get in your inbox stating, “OMG, you are on candid camera” and then sending you a link to check it out. If you receive occasional comments with links on them, it is definitely a spam feeder. Beware that fake accounts are after your online friendship and there are worst dangers and online crime trends behind it.

Pictured below is one of the scam with the content that the guy should be stoned to death for doing this to a girl. When you see a man pulling on a woman’s hair, you will obviously be intended to have a look at it. Clicking on the link will land you to the page with a video player. If you click on it, nothing will happen and you will only end up creating a feed story which your friends might see.

Another common is the phishing scam in which the hacker hacks the user’s account and utilizes it to post links on the particular user’s friend’s walls. In such a case, the system will automatically send messages reporting, “Check out this funny video of you!”. On clicking the link, you will be redirected to a fake facebook login page.

How to avoid?

• To avoid such scams, Facebook offers a spam resource counter on the security page of the site.
• Delete the emails you received from unknown people without opening them.
• Do not click on unknown links.
• If you receive a friend request, check out their recent activity. If they have added excessive amount of friends recently, then there is a good chance of being a scam.