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| https://www.facebook.com/facebook |
I can’t even begin
to tell you how many times I have been asked, “Are you on Facebook?” My response every time is NO and to this day
I still do not have a Facebook account.
There is no doubt in my mind that Facebook connects people with their
friends and family and enables them to meet new people, however, there has
always been something about Facebook that makes me uneasy.
As you can see in
the picture above, there have been at least 85 million people that have visited
Facebook’s Facebook page and that is just the people that gave the page a
thumbs up. Now that is a lot of
people. For a scammer this site could potentially
be a gold mine if they could only find a way to employ their malicious scams on it. Well, they already have and
they have been doing it for some time now.
The goals of the
scams on Facebook are basically the same as many of the other scams on the
Internet. They attempt to steal your
personal information, trick you into subscribing to some service, or initiate a
download of malicious code (Zorz, 2013, Facebook scams and why users fall for
them).
In order to
accomplish their goals, scammers have devised many methods to employ their
them on Facebook. Their scams include a
myriad of methods that include but are not limited to: correspondence disguised
as if it came from Facebook directly
(Facebook preference changes, free Facebook items to give away, Facebook
account scare alerts, and Facebook notification emails), free items for give
away by third parties (free iPad or iPhone, free Walmart gift card, etc),
attention grabbing news (can be real or fake news), or attention grabbing videos, pictures, or
statements (Zorz, 2013, Facebook scams and why users fall for them).
As always, there are
measures you can practice to protect yourself on Facebook.
1. Educate yourself
on the methods scammers are employing.
There are many websites that identify the scams
that are currently employed on Facebook. Locate a website you like and read up on the scams (Zorz, 2013, How to avoid Facebook
scams and limit the damage they make).
2. Restrain yourself
from clicking on interesting pictures, videos, or links. I know it can be hard to not clink on them;
in the end, just reframe from it (Zorz, 2013, How to avoid Facebook scams and
limit the damage they make).
3. Click with
caution. Scammers insert links on
Facebook hoping you click on it. Examine
links carefully. You can do this by
examining a links URL. A link's URL can
be viewed by right clicking it and selecting properties. Signs of an illegitimate URL are: a shorten
link making it unidentifiable, misspellings of Facebook, unusually long, or contain many numbers or
letters (Zorz, 2013, How to avoid Facebook scams and limit the damage they make).
4. Be cautious when
approving apps. Many Facebook users fail
to read the fine print before approving an app or are forced into approving an
app. If fine print is present read it
thoroughly. The fine print may reveal
that you are authorizing the app to do something like access your address book
and/or use your user name. Additionally,
if you find yourself being forced into allowing an app then it is probably safe
to say the app has malicious intent. Those
types of apps can be stopped from executing by closing the browser (Zorz, 2013,
How to avoid Facebook scams and limit the damage they make).
There is one last
measure that I would like to add, but many may not think it is practical so I am
not going to list it as measure number 5.
However, I will share it strictly as a personal recommendation. If you are really worried about the scams on
Facebook then don’t use it. I personally
don’t have a Facebook account because I like keeping my life as private
as possible. Additionally, if I want to
connect with friends or family then I will call them, email them, or in some
cases I will even send them a letter or card through the U.S. mail.
Resources:
Facebook
is on Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2013, from https://www.facebook.com/facebook
Zorz,
Z. (2013, January 17). Facebook scams and why users fall for them. Retrieved
January 29, 2013, from http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=14252
Zorz,
Z. (2013, January 25). How to avoid Facebook scams and limit the damage they
make. Retrieved January 29, 2013, from http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=14304
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