Facebook users, watch out. A clever scam in the form of a fake account cancellation email is making the rounds, and it’s easy to get fooled. Don’t let the threat of losing your account trick you into installing malware on your computer.
The scam starts with a suspicious email informing Facebook users that they have a received an “account cancellation request,” reports computer security blog Naked Security. (See sample email) Recipients are urged to follow a link to cancel the request.
Here’s the clever part. The link appears to be official because it goes to a facebook.com address. Really, it links to a third-party application just running on the Facebook platform.
If you do click on the link, a message asks you to allow an unknown application to run on your computer. Click the “run” button, and you will see a message telling you to download the new version of Adobe Flash. The file that downloads is not the latest version of Flash, but code allowing hackers to spy on your activities and take control of your computer.
For more information and screen shots of the scam, see Naked Security’s original article.
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This is an important story because the scam is so slickly done that it will trip up many people. I appreciate NakedSecurity breaking this story as well as your article because this scam needs to be widely reported. I wrote about it on my blog as well —www.privacymadesimple.net.
Many thanks,
Debra Diener
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Almost every time i log into my facebook account, i get a security alert page that says my facebook account has been blocked because its is sending spam, then it asks me to put in my credit card number in order for my account to be updated. They must think im really stupid, i will never give out my credit card number, they would clean me out. and if my facebook account gets deleted, so be it, facebook is only for entertainment purposes anyhow, I wouldn’t miss it, if i lost it.
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CANCELL MY REQUEST FOR CANCELLING MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT.
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