Recent Facebook Scams and Annoyances to Watch out for

I guess FBaction and FBstarter were the start of a trend after all. Since so many Facebook Phishing scams and other nuisances have been popping up lately, I decided it would be best to compile them into one post.

Here is the list of the recent Facebook phishing scams and bogus ads, according to their common names:

• FBaction - redirects the user to fbaction.net via link in an email or Facebook message
  
• FBstarter - redirects the user to fbstarter.com via link in an email or Facebook message
• Joonias - Facebook message advertises the site joonias.net as a shop
  
• Kromked - may include a captcha field that essentially redirects to sabl.ru

Of the above scams, I only actually received the Joonias.net one. It was simply a Facebook message with the word "hello" as the subject. The body contained the following text:

joonias.net - best shop!!

Yep, that's it. I tried going to the site in order to test the severity of the threat, and it looks like it is now just bringing up an "Address not found" error. Considering how fast Facebook addressed the FBaction scam, I wouldn't be surprised if they took action to get these sites shut down just as quickly. Kromked and Joonias appear to be attempts to increase the value of the respective domain names by drawing in hits, while FBaction and FBstarter are blatant attempts to steal sensitive information. Still, it is best to just avoid them in any case (Yeah, I tested them for your safety... I'm just too self-sacrificing right?).

As always, use of common sense and the following general guidelines will keep you and your information safe:

• Do not click on any links that contain "fbstarter", "fbaction", "joonias", "kromked", or "sable.ru" in them
• Avoid putting any extra sensitive informaiton on your Facebook account, such as credit card numbers
• Always make sure you are at the official Facebook website page when you are logging in - the URL will simply be http://www.facebook.com/
• Keep good antivirus and antispyware software on your computer just in case (see this post for some suggestions on both FREE and paid antivirus and antispyware software)

FBstarter: Another Facebook Phishing Scam to Look Out for

Yesterday, it was the FBaction Facebook phishing scam that caused a great deal of commotion. Today's Facebook phishing scam is known as FBstarter (let's hope this is not the start of a trend here). Similarly to FBaction, Facebook users may receive a message containing a link that directs them to fbstarter.com. This site looks like a normal Facebook login page, but if the user logs in from this page, the login credentials will be sent right to the scammer.

So, here's what to do in order to make sure your information is not exploited:

• Do not click on any links that contain "fbstarter" or "fbaction" in them
• Avoid putting any extra sensitive informaiton on your Facebook account, such as credit card numbers
• Always make sure you are at the official Facebook website page when you are logging in - the URL will simply be http://www.facebook.com/

All in all, as long as you follow these steps and use common sense, you should be fine and will not be affected by this Facebook phishing scam.