Short Bytes : Social media sites such as Facebook and their immense user base are prone to scams most of the times. Here’s a list of Top 5 Facebook scams that you should be wary of.
he bigger and popular sites with the huge number of visitors are like hackers’ wonderland for posting scams. Especially the users on social media websites are prone to such scams that further convert to dangerous cyber attacks. Facebook has about 1.4 billion users making it potentially the most active social media site for the hackers.
These are some of the common Facebook scams that you might fall for if you haven’t before:
5) Viral Videos/ Scandals
The word “Viral” itself has become viral which makes you yearn and see the content inside. It could be anything ranging from cute puppy videos to horrendous torture videos by terrorists. More popular in these viral videos are salacious celebrity scandals which generally contain no video at all- but a link to another phishing website or require to install an update or a plugin. Once you do that, the virus is automatically installed in your system. And you know what happens next..
You will never get adult videos on any social media website, so if you happen to scroll through one on your home page, then it is definitely a Facebook scam.
4) Free Giveaways/Survey Scams
Nothing is free in this world my friend. Especially free travel tickets, and definitely not iPhones, iPads or Mac. The social media are full of such spam offers that sound too good to be true, and coaxes you as if you are the world’s luckiest person.
There are also survey scams that trick you into giving your personal information in exchange of gift vouchers or free trips. Do not fall for these Facebook scams and never forward them to your contacts either, else you would end up spamming your friends too.
3) Facebook Customization
If any link on your home page claims to change the layout, color or give you a special “Dislike Button” give any special functionality, then it is probably another Facebook scam. You can’t just change the official interface of the world’s biggest social media website by clicking a few phishing links.
These scams will either ask you to install their specific Facebook app or ask to fill a desirability form of what changes you want. Once in, they will get full access to your data or through phishing forms spread malware into your system.
If Facebook would some day want to give you customization features, then they make a grand announcement, not any hidden link. So, be alert and avoid yourself from such Facebook scams.
2) Celebrity Friend Requests/Charity
This might not happen as frequently as others but when someone falls for this Facebook scam, it hits him/her very hard. You come by a friend request of a celebrity or from so-called official page. Then they will ask you to donate some money for the poor or the disaster struck people.
Either they will ask your credentials or directly tell you to donate through online payment services. Never trust such messages to stay safe on Facebook.
1) Who Viewed My Profile?
This is the biggest and most pervasive Facebook scam ever. Facebook has made it pretty clear that there is no way any app can tell who has visited your profile and how many times. Any link or app that claims to do so is a scam.
In these scams, you will have to give in your information and accept their terms and conditions. This scam play with the emotions of the users as most of us want to know if their secret crush or an ex-partner visits them online.
The application does tell who viewed your profile based on an algorithm, but till then you are already been infected by the app and under attack.
So, avoid all these malicious and fraudulent apps and links to be safe on the social media. With this, we end the list of biggest Facebook scams.
We will let you know if come by any more of such scams. You can also tell us, and our SPRTech community, if you happen to know some other scams.
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