Facebook Black? Beware widespread scam hitting social networkers

Have you seen an image like this in your newsfeed, shared by a Facebook friend?

If so, think twice before you click on the link - or you could be helping scammers earn money through survey scams or even make it easy for someone to hijack your account.

Messages and images inviting users to change the colour of their Facebook pages from the traditional blue have been appearing in rising numbers over the last few days, enticing users to click on a link to a third-party website.

When I investigated, and clicked on the link from a test account, I was bounced through a few website redirects before ultimately landing on a page entitled "Change your Facebook Color".

"Are you sick fo that boring old blue theme? Well now you have the power to change your facebook color to anything your heart desires."

Rather presumptuously, the page has already ticked my acceptance of the page's terms and conditions.

Before I knew it, I was told I had to take part in an online survey (which earns affiliate cash for the scammers) before I would be given the opportunity to turn my Facebook profile black.

In a nutshell, the more web traffic that the scammers drive towards the survey, the more money they earn.

Other versions of the scam attempt to trick you into thinking that the window of opportunity to turn your Facebook black is closing..

Interestingly, the scammers appear to have dusted off some of the webpages they have used in previous scams, such as the "Remove Your Facebook Timeline" scam, but they have forgotten to remove all the evidence.

Chances are, however, that many Facebook users will be too excited about the prospect of perhaps changing the look and feel of Facebook - and not spot suspicious clues like that.

If mistakenly clicked on links like the one above, remove offending messages, photos and "likes" from your account, check that you have not authorised a rogue app to access your account (from where it could steal information or post without asking your permission), revoke any rogue app's publishing rights and report it as spam to Facebook.

Make sure that you keep informed about the latest scams spreading fast across Facebook and other internet attacks. Join the Sophos page on Facebook, where over 190,000 people regularly share information on threats and discuss the latest security news.

reprinted from: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com