Facebook E-Mail Scam Targets Members

Reported By John Matarese

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - There’s a warning out for all the people who have joined facebook in recent months - and that's a lot of people.

The security firm Symantec reports a huge surge in so-called "phishing" attacks on facebook members....from hackers hoping to get inside your computer.

How the Scam Lures You In

Thousands of facebook members are opening their Outlook or web email or logging on to facebook to find a message from a facebook friend saying they "look sexy" in a video, or something similar.

What do most people do at that point? Out of curiosity, they try to find the video and end up falling victim to the newest scam.

Kelly Chalfant, a college senior who helps other students use facebook safely says, "A lot of people are being hacked through pages on their facebook accounts."

The Mistake Many People Make

Kelly explains your friend really didn't send you that explicit e-mail. If you click the link, you go to a phony facebook page and that's where the hacker gets you to divulge your password.

"At that point they bring up another login page," she says, "and people will enter their e-mail and password."

You've been phished! A hacker can now user your facebook account to send out spam.

How to Avoid Being Scammed

Kelly says red flags include:

• A message from a friend that has misspellings or just doesn't sound right. She says "Usually I can tell its a hacker sending a message, cause the byline is not something they would write."

• Another red flag: A second facebook login page. "Since you’re already logged into facebook already, they wont ask you to log in again," she says.

• One more red flag: The page looks like facebook, but has a suspicious Web address -- the URL -- up top.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line: Make sure that facebook e-mail is really from your friend before you follow it to any new link. Most of us don't have friends who e-mail us to say "you're so sexy."