Scammers are looking to profit from the modern obsession with Facebook in order to steal people’s money.
A new wave of scam messages are being received by Facebook users, and its authors may have a good deal of success in stealing logins and card details.
Scam leverages fear of losing access to Facebook
Users have reported receiving replies to posts that they have made, informing them that their account may be suspended due to reports of abuse. The message says that in order to prevent an account from being suspended, a user must enter their login details and payment information.
The messages are definitely not from Facebook and gullible users will have their logins and credit card information stolen by the scammers. Users are advised to report any messages received from an account named “Facebook recovery.” Do not worry that your account may be suspended, but instead report the message and help make Facebook safe from scammers.
“You have already been reported by others about the abuse of account, this is a violation of our agreement and may result in your account is disabled. Please verify your email account to unblock and help us do more for security and convenience for everyone,” reads the message.
Broken English flags up scam
A link contained in the message directs users to a new screen, where they are asked to log in using their Facebook credentials. If the broken English of the message and the fact that the new page is outside of Facebook are not enough to put a user off, their log in details will be recorded by the scammers.
Those who do log in will then be asked for credit card information, but the English used on the page will hopefully make most people question whether or not it is legitimate. “Payment page you were laid off, please upgrade your credit card again to return the payment in Facebook,” it reads.
If the language and the overall layout of the page were not enough to make alarm bells ring, the user’s credit card details will also be stored. Most people will be wise to the scam, but unfortunately some people may be hooked in due to the anxiety induced by the threat of losing access to Facebook.
