Facebook is one of the most used social media platforms in the world, and that makes it an attractive target for cyber criminals and online scammers.
The latest to join the bandwagon of message-based scams on the social network is “This is you?” scam. What’s happening is that users receive a message on their Facebook profile page, which is usually sent from any of their friends. The message bears the title “This is you?” the question mark at the end of the title makes the user curious to find out if he or she is there or not.
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Embedded in the message is a YouTube video link that would supposedly show the video in which the friend identified the recipient to be present. However, all of this is just a big lie since the message is a scam and the link is malicious. It must be noted that your friend hasn’t sent the message but cybercriminals behind this scam.
“What makes this scam tricky is that video thumbnail shows the same picture victim is using on their profile.”
The link does not redirect victims to the video, while you will be convinced to open the link since it has around 400,000 views already. Do not open it at any cost or else you will be in trouble. The scammers are sending different links to different users. This is why it has become difficult for Facebook to block these links although the company is trying to reduce the impact of the scam by preventing them to their best ability.
You also need to be very careful. Some links may redirect you to Amazon probably because the scammers have signed up for the affiliate marketing of Amazon.com in which the company gives referral commission. Once you click on the link, any future purchases you make from that website will help the scammers earn some cash.
Some links may also lead to another phishing scam in which the user is shown a Facebook login page and requires login credentials to be entered to access the video. Needless to say, as soon as the user enters the login details, the account gets hijacked and scammers then use the account for the distribution of the scam.
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This scam is now a couple of weeks old and Facebook hasn’t done enough to block the circulation of these messages. So, what we can recommend is that you shouldn’t click on the link and if you receive the message from your friend, ask them to change their Facebook password immediately.
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