9 April 2008 - 1:46Facebook Users Faced By New Phishing Scam

Many Facebook users have recently received email messages from apparent “friends” of the site requesting that they resubmit details for a new profile using a provided link. Unsuspecting users are directed to a site that looks very similar to Facebook’s login page after being advised that the “friend” is going to delete the existing account and create a new one. Unfortunately, the domain is actually registered to Namecheap and has absolutely nothing to do with the popular social networking site.

Once individuals resubmit their personal details, they inadvertently grant hackers access to their Facebook accounts. This information is then used to lure in even more people to continue the online scam. Experts warn the public to be very cautious when you receive any messages of this nature, and never release any personal or confidential information if you feel unsure of the legitimacy of the email.

Apparently, this latest Internet scam is not designed to cheat users of their money. However, users are often taken to online pharmacies or websites offering ring tones. This enables the hackers to advertise their products more easily, as well as increase traffic to their websites. This ends up generating more revenue via advertisements and banner ads. Because Facebook profiles contain sensitive information such as home addresses, cell phone numbers, genders and ages, scammers may be able to gain access to bank accounts.

This is certainly not the first time Facebook has become a target for hackers and online scam artists. Previously, fake pages that looked very much like real ones on the site were used to obtain personal user details as well as account passwords.