Verify My Account Virus.
In the past hour a new application has begun spreading on Facebook which has found an exploit in the existing sharing system. Whatever you do, don’t click the link described below.The system is pretty straight forward. It suggests that you click “VERIFY MY ACCOUNT” within a link which ultimately results in the user posting the same message to all their friends’ walls. The message typically resembles the following one:
In order to PREVENT SPAM, I ask that you VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT. Click VERIFY MY ACCOUNT right next to comment below to start the process…
The result is that thousands of users have seen the message spreading to their profiles in the past hour or so. Our guess is that this message could reach hundreds of thousands of users before it’s shut down (unless Facebook’s security team is up right now). The bottom line is this: don’t click any of the links resembling the ones pictured below. Have you seen this spreading on your profile? From AllFaceBook.
From sophos.
If you're seeing Facebook messages asking you to "do your part in PREVENTING SPAM by VERIFYING YOUR ACCOUNT," don't do so - you'd be creating spam, not stopping it!The messages look something like this:
With all the unexpected Sharing going on, this message has spread like wild-fire. Instead of preventing spam, this particular campaign has been generating it at astonishing rates.
The good news is that Facebook seems to have taken some action to prevent the "Share" button being replaced in these messages. Since a few minutes ago, malicious messages appear with no links at all, like this:
The lessons to be learned from this outbreak of spam are as follows:
* Assume that messages which ask you to verify your account by clicking on a link are false. You wouldn't (I hope) click on links in emails which claimed to come from your bank trying to panic you about your account. That would be a classic phishing scam using a false site to steal your username and password. So don't trust that sort of link on Facebook, either.
* When you take some action on Facebook which doesn't deliver what was promised - for example, if you end up Sharing or Liking something you didn't intend to, or if you click through to an offer or competition which suddenly morphs into something completely different (a bait-and-switch) - assume you have been tricked. Review the side-effects of your actions. Remove any applications you may trustingly have accepted; unlike things you didn't mean to like; and delete posts you didn't intend to make.
* Be wary of unexpected changes to Facebook's interface for Liking, Commenting, Sharing and so forth. Unfortunately, the nature of social networking sites is that they like to undergo rapid change. Cybercrooks exploit this by assuming that you accept ongoing changes as "part of how things work". Don't do so. If you see something different, check with an official source to see if it's expected or not.
If sufficiently many Facebook users dig their heels in every time Facebook makes a gratuitous or confusing change in its interface, its privacy settings or its feature set, then it's possible that Facebook will learn to adapt in ways which best suit the privacy and safety of its users, instead of adapting to improve its traffic and benefit its paying customers.
(Remember that as a Facebook user, you aren't a customer. You're effectively an informal employee, paid not in cash but in kind. Your "wage" is free access to the Facebook system. Your clicks generate the value for which Facebook can charge its customers - the advertisers who benefit from the fact that you use the network at all. Don't sell yourself short.)
LINK TO REPORT TO ZYNGA
http://support.zynga.com/CP_ContactUs?gameid=0
http://support.zynga.com/CP_ContactUs?gameid=0
You can also go to the ScamVille group
You can also go to the 4f group for more info.
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