At FTC’s Request, Court Halts Massive Robocall Operation

Firm Delivered Tens of Millions of Prerecorded Calls and Used Offshore Shell Company

The Federal Trade Commission’s work to stop deceptive pre-recorded “robocalls” took another step forward today as a federal court halted a major telemarketing operation that made millions of illegal phone calls pitching worthless extended auto warranties and credit card interest rate-reduction programs. At the request of the FTC, a federal court judge in Chicago has entered an order stopping the operation’s calls, temporarily freezing its assets, and appointing a receiver to take control of the operation.

[Read More] At FTC’s Request, Court Halts Massive Robocall Operation.

WARNING: Twitter Phishing Scam Spreads by Direct Messages

A nefarious link that hacks Twitter accounts is being circulated via direct messages. The DM says, “There is a rumor/blog going around about you [LINK] might want to read it.”

There may be slightly different versions of the link circulating, but if you click on it, all of your followers will be spammed with the same message, and your account will be compromised.

[Read More]  WARNING: Twitter Phishing Scam Spreads by Direct Messages.

How to “Turn on Profile Review” to protect yourself from tag-jacking scams.

Facebook had somewhat of a privacy overhaul last month. One of the most welcome changes that users have been screaming for is the ability to approve tags before they are posted to their profile. The photo-tagging exploit has been abused by scammers on a grand scale…until now! Follow these simple instructions to enable the new feature.

[Read More]  How to “Turn on Profile Review” to protect yourself from tag-jacking scams..

Get A Free Dell XPS M1530! – Facebook Scam

How to Deal with the Scam:

If you did make the mistake of sharing the scam link, then you are now spamming your friends with the very same message. Clean-up your newsfeed and profile to remove references to the scam. (click the “x” in the top right hand corner of the post).

Be on the lookout for more marketing offers arriving to your email inbox and physical address if you submitted that information to the scammers.

Some of these scams appear to be spreading via rogue applications. If you or a friend are victims of this scam, then do an audit of your installed Facebook applications and remove anything suspicious. For more information about rogue applications and how you can protect yourself against them check out:

How to protect your Facebook account from Rogue Applications

[Read More]  Get A Free Dell XPS M1530! – Facebook Scam.

Facebook will be charging this summer – Viral Hoax!

 

Another Facebook hoax has taken off this weekend. We have similar ones before and I’m sure we will see them again. Rest assured that Facebook is never going to charge users for accessing the social network. Scammers and hoaxers love to get rumors started for some strange reason. Here is the latest version going around:

[Read More]  Its official…signal at 12:20 it even passed on tv. Facebook will be charging this summer – Viral Hoax!.

[Phishing Alert] Phishing Scams to avoid on Facebook

 

There are several phishing scams circulating on Facebook at the moment. Hackers use any means they can find to try and obtain Facebook login credentials.

Be on the lookout for the following messages posted as a comment on a status update, photo, video, link – basically anything on your newsfeed:

[Read More]  [Phishing Alert] Phishing Scams to avoid on Facebook.

FaceNiff Is the Firesheep for Android, Hijacks Facebook Sessions with One Tap – Gizmodo

 

If you remember the privacy fiasco that Firesheep caused just months ago by allowing laptop-toting pranksters to hijack the Facebook accounts of unwitting public Wi-Fi users, then you’ll know the sort of tom-foolery that’s about to ensue now that FaceNiff exists. The app allows Android phones to sniff out and use Facebook accounts of other users on the same open wireless network with a single tap of the finger. This time, however, there’s no bulky laptop involved, making the deed easier to perpetrate than ever before.

[Read more] FaceNiff Is the Firesheep for Android, Hijacks Facebook Sessions with One Tap – Gizmodo.

[SCAM ALERT] [friend's name] There is a Website error right now and their shipping out 100 percent free Presents

This bogus iPad 2 offer is being spread via user comments from a hacked or infected Facebook account. No free presents are being shipped. Avoid offers that sound too good to be true. If a friend posts a comment like this on a status update, they have been hacked or they need to remove a rogue application.

[Read More]  [SCAM ALERT] [friend's name] There is a Website error right now and their shipping out 100 percent free Presents.

Massive spam attack on Facebook #fb

Massive spam attack on Facebook at the moment! Avoid any of the following messages (or any that are similar):

WTF!! what are you doing in this video
OMG!! (ur name) why are you tagged in this vid
WTF!! (ur name) I can’t believe you’re in this video
hey (ur name) you look so stupid in this video
yo (ur name) I can’t believe you’re in this video

Verify My Account Spam Runs Rampant On Facebook

Posted by Nick O’Neill on May 12th, 2011 2:21 AM

In the past hour a new application has begun spreading on Facebook which has found an exploit in the existing sharing system. Whatever you do, don’t click the link described below.

The system is pretty straight forward. It suggests that you click “VERIFY MY ACCOUNT” within a link which ultimately results in the user posting the same message to all their friends’ walls. The message typically resembles the following one:

In order to PREVENT SPAM, I ask that you VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT. Click VERIFY MY ACCOUNT right next to comment below to start the process…

The result is that thousands of users have seen the message spreading to their profiles in the past hour or so. Our guess is that this message could reach hundreds of thousands of users before it’s shut down (unless Facebook’s security team is up right now). The bottom line is this: don’t click any of the links resembling the ones pictured below. Have you seen this spreading on your profile?

How to Deal with the Scam:

If your anti-virus software failed to block the intrusion, then you could be spamming your friends with the scammer’s message. You should clean-up your newsfeed and profile to remove references to the scam. (click the “x” in the top right hand corner of the post). If your installed anti-virus program caught the malware attempt, then your system should not be affected. If you don’t have anti-virus software installed, then you need to that immediately and run a full system scan.

This scam appears to come from a wall posting via an iPhone. The scam links directly to javascript. Very dangerous and viral! Always remember to be careful what you click!  [Read More]

Verify My Account Spam Runs Rampant On Facebook.

[VIRUS ALERT] In order to PREVENT SPAM, I ask that you VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT

Scam Signature Message: In order to PREVENT SPAM, I ask that you VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT. Click VERIFY MY ACCOUNT right next to comment below to start the process…

How to Deal with the Scam:

If your anti-virus software failed to block the intrusion, then you could be spamming your friends with the scammer’s message. You should clean-up your newsfeed and profile to remove references to the scam. (click the “x” in the top right hand corner of the post). If your installed anti-virus program caught the malware attempt, then your system should not be affected. If you don’t have anti-virus software installed, then you need to that immediately and run a full system scan.

If you or your Facebook friends are falling for tricks like this, it’s time to get yourself informed of the latest threats. Be sure to join the Facecrooks page on Facebook to be kept informed of the latest security issues.

This scam appears to come from a wall posting via an iPhone. The scam links directly to javascript. Very dangerous and viral! Always remember to be careful what you click!

Scam Type:  Malware [Click link below for original article and full post]

(website appears back up FYI)

[VIRUS ALERT] In order to PREVENT SPAM, I ask that you VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT.

New Facebook Page Admin Scam | Snipe.Net

A new scam has come to our attention, one that’s a new take on an old trick in Facebook. Scammers are adding users as page administrators on a page that’s got a poisoned IFRAME set as the default tab.

So the user gets a notification “John Smith has made you an administrator of XYZ page”. The user clicks on the page to see what they’ve just been made an admin of, and the poisoned default page tab kicks on, busting them out of the Facebook site and into a standalone page offering promises of free iPads and various other too-good-to-be-true freebies.

Read more: New Facebook Page Admin Scam | Snipe.Net.