Phishing Scam Hit World Famous Facebook

World famous social networking websites "Facebook" was hit by a phishing scam on April 29, 2009,which seems to be an act of bad guys.

According to the available reports about the scam, Facebook users received an e-mail with the title "Hello". In general, the e-mail text discloses to the user that his friend has sent a link. When the user clicks on the link, he is taken to a bogus website called fbaction.net imitating the login page of Facebook. The prime objective of this website seems to be stealing the login details of the user.

Commenting on the issue, Facebook has said that if the user visits the website, his account will be compromised to send more fake messages to his friends.

Two prominent web browsers "Safari" and "Firefox" blacklisted the URL as a phishing site on April 29, 2009 and released a warning for their users. Moreover, both the browsers acknowledged that a phishing scam involving Facebook was on.

Meanwhile, Facebook accepted that a phishing scam hit it and was taking necessary precautions to protect its users. Markmonitor, an anti-fraud service providing company, has been entrusted with the task of blacklisting the domain fbaction.net, said the social networking site. Besides, Markmonitor will also try to block the access of the site at servers/domain level for those people who are indifferent to updating their browsers.

Thus, Facebook has emphasized on the fact that its users should suspect odd messages especially those that ask them to click on the embedded link without giving the reason. If the message is incomplete, users should avoid sending a reply to it. In addition, users should be careful of messages coming from unknown Facebook friends and pals who have suddenly come out of the blue and sending messages.

Facebook has also recommended to its users that they should be extremely suspicious of any URL that imitates Facebook like fbaction.net. In case, a user has clicked on the link, he should carefully monitor the page and ensures its authenticity.

Meanwhile, security experts state that the frequency of phishing attacks against social networking websites is increasing and the abovementioned attack is an addition to this list of attacks.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 5/7/2009