Facebook is the social networking website of choice for a scam artist. New victims are discovered each day. These scams happen in much the same way as the ones from email. People are too trusting on Facebook, while they are leery of email. Here are some facts to keep in mind.
There is nothing as warm and fuzzy as someone who wants to be a friend on Facebook. Cyber-criminals on social networking websites try to be a real friend and quickly work at gaining trust. Once they get their foot in the door, scam artists send messages asking for money or funny videos with a dangerous link to malicious software.
A Facebook scam artist is smart and sneaky. They want trusting souls to fall for their tricks. They do not care if they take advantage of anyone. They want to steal identity so that personal data can be used. They look for vulnerable people and appeal to emotions. The stories they tell can tug at the heart strings.
People automatically trust that places like Facebook are secure and monitored. However, Facebook has so many members that it has a security challenge. It is hard to protect over 500 million people. The service is attacked constantly by scam artists. In spite of that, only one percent of users have had a security-issue. They have a team that works hard at deleting bad messages and links.
It is not always easy to be able to tell the difference between a real or fake offer on a social networking website. A scam artist is so good at replicating sites that even the experts can get confused. That is why they suggest not clicking on links from a Facebook page. For example, there were fake Olive Garden gift cards that popped up. The company posted a message on its page telling everyone about the problem. Free offers are tempting.
Strange activity can happen on a social networking website. Accounts can be compromised. Many people assume that a scam artist will be tracked down and punished. That is difficult to do. Some of these people are accessing the web from all over the world and some of them are dangerous. Facebook users need to understand that serious problems can happen when they share information.
Thanks for the scam info on Facebook. H5!
It always amazes me how "trusting" Facebook users are. Good list.
select one here...