Facebook Security Violation: What to Do if You Fell to this Scam

Why would Facebook security find your posts insulting to other Facebook users? You may have asked this when you received a Facebook security violation message that tells you your account will be disabled unless you confirm your account. The good thing is you did not likely receive a message from Facebook. You may have just received another fake message distributed by scammers in the internet.

The Facebook Security Violation Scam
Below is an example of the fake Facebook security violation message:

WARNING : Your account is reported to have violated the policies that are considered annoying or insulting Facebook users.system will disable your account within 24 hours if you do not do the reconfirmation.
Please confirm your facebook account below:
----------------------------------------
http://recovery-info-security.at.hm/
----------------------------------------
Thanks.
Facebook Security
█║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌║
Verified Official Page™ ✔ All Rights Reserved ©

In a gist, this message pretends to be from the real Facebook security team so it can more effectively scare you of losing your account. The scammers take advantage of your concerns to make you do things that will profit or benefit them.

Once you attempt to "confirm your Facebook account", you will likely be presented with a fake Facebook page that can phish out important information from you such as your password. You will likely have more problems accessing your account once you give your login details to the scammers.

What to Do if You Fell to the Facebook Security Violation Scam
1. If your received the message as a private message or chat, ignore and delete.
2. If you already answered forms and you have been tricked to give your Facebook username and password, change your password as soon as possible.

Go to Your Account Setting.


Select password>> edit password



3. You should also warn your friends about this Facebook security violation scam by sharing this post on Facebook.

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Who Viewed Your Timeline?

Did a friend send you a request to approve an application so you can see who viewed your timeline? This and variations of the messages you will find below actually lead you to fake Facebook applications. Once you give these apps access to "post in your behalf", you will likely see them posting spammy and often misleading messages on your wall.

The app and the messages may also prompt your friends to visit a page or a site where they are directed to answer survey ads.

Wow, we can already see who viewed our profile. Try it here
Wanna know who your top followers or profile viewers are? Check it out here

How can You Stop these Malicious Apps from Spamming Your Wall?
1. You should flag the messages generated by this apps as spam:



2. Make sure that you also revoke the Who Viewed Your Timeline apps' access to post messages in your behalf. Go to settings and remove the rogue application:



3. Warn your friends that timeline profile viewer applications do not yet exist and the ones spreading on Facebook are scams. Share this post on Facebook.

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Starbucks International Promo

Scammers are now using popular brand names like Starbucks when sending messages to their potential victims. In one of the random emails they send, for example, the scumbags claim that Starbucks is giving out cash gifts to short listed candidates. The email tells that you need to validate your email and requires you to send your name, mobile phone number, your date of birth and a scanned copy of your passport or driver's license.

Do not be misled by the message. By sending your personal details and giving a copy of your passport and driver's license to the anonymous people who claim to be somebody else endangers you of becoming a victim of identity theft.

From: STARBUCKS INTERNATIONAL PROMO
Subject: UK CUSTOMERS (VALIDATE YOUR EMAIL)

DEAR UK CUSTOMERS,

STARBUCKS IS GIVING OUT CASH GIFTS TO SHORTLISTED EMAIL CANDIDATES. THIS IS A WAY TO SAY THANK YOU.

YOUR EMAIL HAS BEEN SHORTLISTED AMONGST OTHERS AS WINNERS OF THIS YEAR STAR BUCKS EMAIL COMPETITION. YOUR EMAIL WAS SELECTED RANDOMLY WITH SEVEN OTHERS AMONGST MANY UK RESIDENTS EMAILS ENTERED INTO THE COMPETITION.

YOUR REFERENCE NUMBER IS XWT66577488BCK. A LUMP SUM OF TWO HUNDRED THOUSANDS POUNDS WILL BE SHARED AMONGST THE 8 EMAILS SHORTLISTED WITHIN 48 HOURS.

TO VALIDATE YOUR EMAIL, PLEASE REPLY TO verification@starbucksint.com WITH THE FOLLWING INFO:

NAME:
FULL ADDRESS:
MOBILE PHONE:
DATE OF BIRTH:
A SCANNED COPY OF YOUR PASSPORT OR DRIVERS LICENCE:

STEPHEN ROBERTS
PROMOTIONS MANAGER
Starbucks Coffee Company,

 

What to Do if You Receive the Starbucks International Promo Email

1. Ignore the message

2. Mark the email as spam



3. Warn your friends not to fall to this scam. Share this post to your Facebook and twitter friends.

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Phil Collins Dies in Car Crash

Is It True that Phil Collins Died?
Internet scams and hoax stories, for how many times, have already killed albeit virtually many celebrities and the apparent new victim is the English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. The singer is the voice behind hits that include You'll Be in My Heart, In the Air Tonight, Another Day in Paradise and Against All Odds.

If you see messages spreading in social networks particularly in Facebook that claims Phil Collins died in a car crash, please do not hit the share button. Phil Collins is well and alive and messages that say otherwise are a hoax.

Why Would People Spread False Rumors in the Internet?
Profit-driven scammers often spread malicious and often false news in the internet. Some hoax messages are spread to lure people to visit adsense and survey monetized websites where massive traffic is needed to make more money.

What should You Do?
Always google for more information whenever you see news story such as a death of a celebrity in your favorite social network. The chances are high that you have just gotten a viral hoax news. If you see a hoax story on Facebook, mark it as spam.

It also helps to inform your friends that the "Phil Collins Dies in Car Crash" news is a hoax, Share this article on Facebook.

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Scam Alert: Free Pair of Nike Shoes on Facebook

Has somebody invited you to an event entitled "Free Pair of Nike Shoes ( Just Do It!! )"? The event invitation tells you to invite friends so you can get the following free pairs of Nike shoes:

Invite 100 Friends = 1 Pair
Invite 200 Friends = 2 Pairs

The event you receive may also contain the following details:

Free Pair of Nike Shoes ( Just Do It!! )
Celebrating a whooping 3 billion dollars in profit, Nike have decided to giveaway Free pairs of Nike Shoes. Just Follow the steps to make sure you get one today. The Promo will end on the 1st of August 2012.

Since the promo says it will end by August 1, 2012, you will likely be inviting your friends to this event supposedly so you can get a pair of nice shoes from Nike. Unfortunately, this is yet another fake event on Facebook. The promised Nike shoes won't arrive in your doorstep regardless if you invite hundreds of your friends. This is a viral scam that promises non existent freebies and misleads people so they would answer surveys.

The Danger of Survey Scams on Facebook
Survey scams such as the one generated when you click the supposed Fans of Nike Shoes page solicit personal information from you. The survey questions may appear to be harmless but you may actually be giving your email or contact information that scammers can use against you.

What to Do if You Get the Free Pair of Nike Shoes Invitation
1. Scroll down to the bottom of the event page and you will see this:



2. Click report.
3. Warn your friends about this free pair of Nike shoes Facebook scam by sharing this article on Facebook.

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Thanx to FACEB00K group for finally releasing a w0rking app to check who VlEWED your PR0FlLE

There have been new variations of the profile viewer scams on Facebook:

Wooot! Thanx to FACEB00K group for finally releasing a w0rking app to check who VlEWED your PR0FlLE. Try to check your top stalkers at:

Love it! Huge thanx goes out to the FACEB00K team for releasing a w0rking app to check now who VlEWED your PR0FlLE.Know them here:

As it always does, the scam spreads in the social network via clickjacking ie. by taking over your friends' account and spread the scam messages under their names.

To date, the social networking giant has yet to release an application that will allow its users to view people who were viewing their profiles. If you see such an "application" being shared by a friend on Facebook, it is likely a clickjacking survey scam.

How to Deal with this Scam
If you see variants of the profile viewer scam in your newsfeed, make sure to mark it as spam. An example is provided below:



If you are the one spreading the message, remove the facebook app that is causing your account to send the message. You can find and remove the app via account settings--> then apps.



You should also make your friends know about this scam to prevent it from spreading. Share this post on Facebook.

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How to Remove Chatzum from Facebook

The chatzum for facebook is one of those applications that are spread as link in spammy chat messages. It also comes by many names. There's the zoomonwall that claims to magnify newsfeed images and increases speed of loading. There are also the usezoom and chatzoom but all these supposed apps lead to the chatzum site where visitors are prompted, often successfully, to install a toolbar in their browser.

Unfortunately, the chatzum toolbar doesnt do much to improve your Facebook user experience. Worse, those who installed the toolbar are likely sending spammy chatzum for facebook download chat messages to their friends.

How to Remove Chatzum from Facebook

To stop sending those spammy chat, revoke the app's access to your account by removing it from your apps and websites. You can edit this through the privacy settings.



You should also remove the toolbar from your browser. A detailed guide on how to remove chatzum from google chrome, firefox and IE can be found here.

If you found this post helpful, please share this to your friends on Facebook.

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