Spammers Getting Desparate With Latest Facebook Phishing Scams

The Facebook phishing scams have continued over the Memorial Day weekend, although it appears Facebook is slowly winning the battle. The latest versions of the scams have used Tinyurls and improperly placed spaces to defeat Facebook’s spam filters. One message I received in the past few minutes simply stated “n u d z . r u”.

While it’s unknown if recipients are following the improperly formed URLs, the spammers are clearly turning to alternative tactics. While the volume has appeared to increase, the new spam messages are not great phishing bait. Rather than luring more victims, the spammers are simply helping Facebook to improve their anti-spam measures.

Within minutes of links being posted, many of the URLs become unreachable after being blocked by network based anti-spam filters. Facebook appears to be battling one of the most aggressive spam networks so far but the company appears to be slowly winning the battle.

Have you seen an increase in the volume of spam on Facebook over the past few days? Have you been one of the users that was duped by the spammers?

Tags:Spam

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57748 Comments2009-05-25+17%3A23%3A44Nick+O%27Neill »

Iv just had my account deactivated by facebook because i was dumb enough to enter my details into redbuddy.be ..thought it was a link to the "old" facebook. The hacker sent another hacker link to all my friends…i changed my password as soon as i found out, emailed my friends apologizing and telling them not to go to the link. Just hoping facebook will reactivate my account, cos if sending a warning to friends who have just been sent a hacker link is considered "spam"….well then im less than impressed…

Comment by Ruth — May 25, 2009 @ 10:01 am
Answers to your questions:

1. Yes, I have seen an increase in the volume of spam on Facebook. 3-4 of my FB friends have been infected over the past few days. It's not much, but more than ever before.

2. No, I haven't been duped by spammers (at least not yet)!

Comment by wordord — May 25, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
I’ve not been directly hit with an attack, but in the past two days I’ve received two phishing scams through other people’s profiles.

Comment by John Wooton — May 25, 2009 @ 9:25 pm
One important detail I left out of the previous msg: when I approved the message, three notifications appeared very briefly in the lower right corner of the page, stating that notifications had been sent to three of my friends. i didn't react fast enough so I only saw the name of one of my 3 named friends. I promptly sent her a msg warning her not to follow that notification. The other 2, well they may have suffered the same fate i did.

Comment by David Zinjanthropus — May 26, 2009 @ 6:24 am
Yesterday i received a notification from a friend I know, saying that he had sent me a “Multimedia Message,” which when i followed it took me to an app approval page, which I clicked on. The resulting “Multimedia Message” page I landed on had one of those “Secret Crush” ads and a message written in extremely poor English grammar, which I could barely interpret as a warning not to approve apps I don’t know. I immediately deleted the app from my applications list and sent a note about this to the facebook “Reports” section. I have seen no problems yet, but wonder if this may be a known scam.

Comment by David Zinjanthropus Orr — May 26, 2009 @ 10:21 am
I think there is more going on than FB wants to deal with, my account was taken over, FB’s instruction on how to deal with this are JUNK. I just need to gain control of this so I can totally erase my profile. Somehow I will manage to get by with out FB. I don’t think this is a small problem.

Comment by e — May 26, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
No increased spam activity in my account. Hadn't noticed anything if I didn't read this article.

Comment by JPP — May 27, 2009 @ 12:41 am
how do u get rid of this shit. its annoying I changed my passwords etc havent seen any more activity but was not happy!!!!!! YET

Comment by Carla — August 11, 2011 @ 11:51 pm

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Iv just had my account deactivated by facebook because i was dumb enough to enter my details into redbuddy.be ..thought it was a link to the "old" facebook. The hacker sent another hacker link to all my friends…i changed my password as soon as i found out, emailed my friends apologizing and telling them not to go to the link. Just hoping facebook will reactivate my account, cos if sending a warning to friends who have just been sent a hacker link is considered "spam"….well then im less than impressed…

Comment by Ruth — May 25, 2009 @ 10:01 am

Answers to your questions:

1. Yes, I have seen an increase in the volume of spam on Facebook. 3-4 of my FB friends have been infected over the past few days. It's not much, but more than ever before.

2. No, I haven't been duped by spammers (at least not yet)!

Comment by wordord — May 25, 2009 @ 3:48 pm

I’ve not been directly hit with an attack, but in the past two days I’ve received two phishing scams through other people’s profiles.

Comment by John Wooton — May 25, 2009 @ 9:25 pm

One important detail I left out of the previous msg: when I approved the message, three notifications appeared very briefly in the lower right corner of the page, stating that notifications had been sent to three of my friends. i didn't react fast enough so I only saw the name of one of my 3 named friends. I promptly sent her a msg warning her not to follow that notification. The other 2, well they may have suffered the same fate i did.

Comment by David Zinjanthropus — May 26, 2009 @ 6:24 am

Yesterday i received a notification from a friend I know, saying that he had sent me a “Multimedia Message,” which when i followed it took me to an app approval page, which I clicked on. The resulting “Multimedia Message” page I landed on had one of those “Secret Crush” ads and a message written in extremely poor English grammar, which I could barely interpret as a warning not to approve apps I don’t know. I immediately deleted the app from my applications list and sent a note about this to the facebook “Reports” section. I have seen no problems yet, but wonder if this may be a known scam.

Comment by David Zinjanthropus Orr — May 26, 2009 @ 10:21 am

I think there is more going on than FB wants to deal with, my account was taken over, FB’s instruction on how to deal with this are JUNK. I just need to gain control of this so I can totally erase my profile. Somehow I will manage to get by with out FB. I don’t think this is a small problem.

Comment by e — May 26, 2009 @ 12:45 pm

No increased spam activity in my account. Hadn't noticed anything if I didn't read this article.

Comment by JPP — May 27, 2009 @ 12:41 am

how do u get rid of this shit. its annoying I changed my passwords etc havent seen any more activity but was not happy!!!!!! YET

Comment by Carla — August 11, 2011 @ 11:51 pm

Spammers Getting Desparate With Latest Facebook Phishing Scams

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