madison

Facebook shuts down malicious fake profiles

Elinor Mills CNET News | October 1, 2009 12:04 PM PDT

Summary

Facebook fended off an attack in which multiple identical profiles were created to spread malware. The Data Snatcher found a way to bypass Facebook Captcha.
Facebook on Thursday fended off an attack in which multiple identical profiles were created to spread malware.

Antivirus provider AVG Technologies said users of its LinkScanner service detected numerous profiles that were identical except with different names and each included a link to what was represented as a home video but which instead displayed a fake antivirus alert when clicked. The scams are designed to trick people into paying for software they don't need, to get credit card information from victims for identity fraud purposes and often to install spyware on the computer.

"Clearly, the Data Snatchers have found a way to automate the creation of Facebook accounts, which means they've found a way to bypass the Facebook Captcha," Roger Thompson, chief of research at AVG, wrote in a blog post.

Read more of "Facebook shuts down malicious fake profiles" on CNET News.

Talkback Most Recent of 1 Talkback(s)

  • it's also happening on "my yearbook site"
    I discovered it yesterday when I noticed multiple accounts with identical information including the same photos used repeatedly. The only thing that changed were the "state" they claimed to live in.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    AngelHuggles
    4th Oct 2009

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