Want to see who has viewed your Facebook profile? Take care..

Filed Under: Facebook, Social networks, Spam

Facebook
I'm increasingly being asked by folks on Facebook if it's possible to tell who has been viewing their Facebook profile. A number have been attracted to webpages and Facebook applications that claim to be able to give you a secret insight into who is spying on your profile.

Well, if you're one of those people who are curious about who might be watching you online, take care.

Right now we're seeing a significant number of Facebook users posting messages such as:


OMG OMG OMG... I can't believe this actually works! Now you really can see who views your profile!!! WOAH

and


See who views your Facebook profile in real-time!!!

See who views your profile

However, like the "Justin Bieber cell phone number" scam and the "This mother went to jail for taking this pic of her son!" scam, the links pointed to in your friends' status updates are not to be trusted.

If you make the mistake of clicking on the link to one of these pages offering to tell you who is viewing your Facebook profile, you will find that the people behind the "services" want you to do a few things first.

See who has viewed your profile scam page

For instance, they'll ask you to "Like" their pages (which means you are spreading the link to friends in your social network), and they will ask you to advertise their site by posting an "OMG" message (with a link) to at least five different places on Facebook.

After all that hard work you would hope that they would give you access to the powerful Profile Spy app wouldn't you? But I'm afraid your luck is out.

They'll next ask you to hand over your personal information by taking numerous surveys - before ultimately trying to trick you into handing over your cellphone number which they'll sign up to an expensive premium rate service.

See who has viewed your profile scam page

Remember, this scam doesn't work as the result of clickjacking, or a vulnerability on Facebook. The scammers are achieving their ends because of human gullibility - pure and simple. If people considered what they were doing and thought twice about the possible consequences then we would see nothing like as many of these attacks occurring, and our news feeds on Facebook would see less spam.

Do your bit for the public good and share this page on Facebook to warn your online friends about scams like this. Press the button at the side to share this article if you're a Facebook user.

Interestingly, the pages that this particular scam points you to aren't on Facebook, but still display a fake Facebook header at the top. You will notice if you visit them that although the top menu options are there, they cannot be clicked on - which clearly makes the pages look even more suspect.

Ultimately you have to have your wits about you to avoid scams like this. If you or your friends keep falling for these sort of confidence tricks, or want to learn more about security threats, don't forget you can join the Sophos page on Facebook.

You could also do a lot worse than check out our best practices for better privacy and security on Facebook guide.

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102 Responses to Want to see who has viewed your Facebook profile? Take care..

  1. It's baaaaack. Under a different name of course. It got deleted last time I posted a warning on my IT security page, maybe they'll pay more mind if you post it.
    http://www.umimtelling.com/stalker/app.php

  2. mary lou jenkins says:

    i'm getting texts from someone on this site and i need them to stop. They are coming to my cell phone, has anyone else getting them? please contact whoever and tell them they must stop. thank you.

  3. arjunKR says:

    days before i too clicked on such application,i know they all were fake,but with curiosity i clicked on it after that the application started post that "OMG" message on all my friends walls....lots of my friends clicked on them too,but then i realized and asked them not to click such links in future......for orkut we can use some php scripts to hack but facebook is different

  4. so in other words .. no you CANT find out who views your page `???

  5. Brooke Exley says:

    That's right, you can't find out. Trust
    me I have tried.

  6. Gopher says:

    That is 100% Fake too, and a scam.

  7. dev says:

    but facebook can find out who viewed, and under court order others could too

    • Freida Gray says:

      No,Facebook can't find out who viewed your profile/timeline,even under court order.NOBODY has the ability to control how other people use their computers or track what those people click on unless they have installed a form of spyware on the computer.Even then, the only computer they can track is the computer that has the spyware.Unless Facebook illegally installs spyware on all users computers,they have no way of knowing where you go on the net or what you click on;so any court order would be basically useless as far as that goes.

      • Todd says:

        Actually common cookies used by most 3rd party tracking vendors give feedback to your preferences and web browsing history. When you download one of the social network sites you better believe they've installed a cookie on your computer. They do this to give the user a better experience next time but these cookies probably collect more info than you think about your personal web habits and history.

  8. funfun says:

    if its not possible to know who views your profile, then why earlier today was i looking at someones pictures who i dont have as a friend, and now just a few hours later they are randomly and quite coincidentally set to private profile(meaning i must be friends with them)

  9. Faustina says:

    @funfun that's great question becuz the same situation happened with me. Something is happening either knowingly or unknowingly with FB that links viewed profiles as FB friends. My situation happened after a guest used my computer to log on her FB account. Some of her contacts were later added to my list. Another time someone was added to my list from a news feed from which I left a comment. I have checked my settings. Are there others this has happened to?

  10. james says:

    see this on a mates facebook and thought i wouldn't mine knowing who's been looking at my profile but before i did that i google it first and found this, well i'm glad i did so post a comment on it on my frends facebook where the link was putting a warning to stop others, but as i did it all just vanished. well i think that just speaks for its self.

  11. I am very intrigued to know if ppl are viewing me... Sad i know!! But will there ever be anything in the future for such a thing? Bebo has it... Why not FB??

    • Hazclan13 says:

      Because its a violation of privacy, the fact Bebo has it, is one reason why Bebo is dieing.
      If you are 'friends' with someone on FB why should it matter if they look at your profile?
      Not to mention that if people who aren't your friends on FB can see your profile you need to secure it with your privacy settings.

      If you post anything online its a good idea to assume anyone can see it, the internet is public, even with security/passwords etc nothing is ever 100% safe.

      I do think FB should make more of an effort to keep these apps out of FB as they are a scams anyway. I would have thought they could have some scripts running to stop posts like 'See who has viewed your profile'.

      • ima says:

        how to set privacy so people who is not on my friends list can't see my profile? please help and thanks.

      • nite says:

        Because people like Kerrie are attention whores. They want that feeling of being a celeberty with dozens of stalkers, and yet pretend to be modest.

        Only let friends see your profile, and you dont need to worry about internet stalkers.

        Make your profile public and post provocative pictures on it... well...

  12. Wendy says:

    How about Twitter? Can I see who has visited my twitter page?

  13. Jason says:

    its a facebook, who cares whos on your profile if its such a promble LEAVE FACEBOOK

  14. I refer the right honourable gentleman to the answer I give here:
    http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02/07/hack-t...

  15. Angie says:

    I have just clicked on a link on facebook, which told me I could view who has viewed my profile, I stupidly (yes I know) down loaded something on my computer. It then started to scan my computer but I cancelled it half way through. Is there any way I can see what has been downloaded and remove it????

    • nite says:

      Congratulations you have malware, spyware and possibly a virus. You will want to run your anti-virus / anti-malware software now.

      You DO have antivirus software, right?

  16. Ewan Kennedy says:

    Glad I found this. I've had a few "OMG" messages like those described above and thought I'd check it out first. Graham, fyi, you're no. 3 in google.co.uk for "facebook - how to find out who has viewed your profile". BTW, I actually think it's a bit odd for people to think it's a bit odd (!?) for their ex's or anybody else to view their profiles. It's perfectly natural isn't it? What might be odder is to become obsessed about who is viewing your profile. Who would actually be more likely to develop stalker tendencies here? Thanks for the clarification.

  17. MissBoo says:

    Facebook would loose alot of their members if people were able to detect who was viewing their page. I mean lets be real, we all do it, wheather its an ex bf /gf, ex friend, enemy, or even a crush.. NO1 wants to be seen as a stalker so that would make folks less intrested in using FB because "We dont want to be viewed as a stalker or an obsessed manic freak"... we as Americans have wayyy to much pride I admit that lol. FB would die quickly! I think thats why they are going so hard to put a hault to all these ways to find out whose "stalking you". Give me a break, guess that makes me a stalker.. Cause girlllll I be on everybody page LOL

    xoxoxo

  18. Michele says:

    I looked up an old friend once on fb, i just checked out his profile one time didnt message comment nothing. We had no mutual friends no friends of friends nothing on fb. Then a couple weeks later he showed up on the top of my "people you may know" list and was there for several days. This never happened before and has not happened since and ive done such a thing many times and visited others sites several times. Funny thing is it happened to be a friend i had a falling out with and it sorta gave me an excuse to contact him again, it was a perfect "ice breaker" we reconnected and are closer than ever before.

  19. Fahad says:

    Hi,

    I wana know how can i then know who viewed my facebook profile without falling in the trap of these probs.

  20. Aitch says:

    Why does anyone need or want to know who has viewed their profile? It's a social networking site - of course people view your profile. If it's friend then why wouldn't they, and if it's a stranger and you don't want them to just change your privacy settings.

  21. opinionator says:

    If you're suspicious of such activity, then why do people have thousands of contacts?? And if you are one to have that many contacts, I would definatly consider you to be The Stalker.. And if you do have that many actual friends, I would love to attend your party!!

  22. Rod says:

    We've just seen this virus now, but what does it do?
    I was first tagged in my friends post. I just pressed the notification to understand what it is and then I got this statistic report of 'how many times I visited her page'.
    I've traced this on my wall later and marked it as spam, then it was gone. removing it the 'normal' way didn't work.

    Other than this, does this Virus do anything more?

    Tnx

  23. james says:

    "Why does anyone need or want to know who has viewed their profile?" because you want to be aware of the girls that have crushes on you but stay quiet. duh lol

  24. Guest says:

    I recently had someone who is on my Friends List on FB tag me as one of her Top 10 stalkers. Embarrassing! I have visited this persons page but not all that frequently and not much more than any others I visit. If it is not possible to track visits on FB how or where would this information come from?

    • Freida Gray says:

      from your friend's timeline/profile page.These apps go to the victim's profile/timeline page,count the first (whatever number) of people who have posted something on that page,& use that as their list.The thing is,I doubt that any of these apps actually list themselves as 1 of the "stalkers".

  25. James BikeMan Gould says:

    It's against the Facebook terms and conditions for any Facebook App to tell you who's been looking at your profile - the sooner people learn this the better!

    Since Facebook don't want developers making applications that tell people how many profile views they've had, I would doubt the tools required to do it are in the Facebook API! So an App that promises to show whose been viewing your profile, will for the foreseeable future always be fake!

  26. lisa michel says:

    geez all this for wat? haha noothing!!!

  27. Stocker Flocker says:

    Im glad that it's fake because I like to stock my ex-girlfriend

  28. morgan says:

    i was just had by this and it has sent it to all my contacts...any way to reverse this? doh

  29. Bernd says:

    It's not JUST human gullibility at fault here. They exploit something more insiduous that that even. The premium rate cell phone services. I got done by one these once and it was simply because I had no idea (call that gullible maybe) that by giving someone the rigth to send you text messages that you could also be giving them the right to bill you for it. This was nowhere stated or written in the service that got me. No problem I unsubscribed, and in the interim have lobbied my telephone provider to provide me with a premium SMS prohibition on my phone. I don't want any premium SMS sevrice ever, stop so just don't let my phone receive them. That has notw been achieved and is possible but it still predicates an understanding that by giving someon your cell number, they can send you a message that costs you money. In Australia, where I'm writinbg from, such an idea is simply not widely held or understood and hence the problem is as much a pathetic product offering by telecom providers that does not correlate with teh markets perceptions or needs. There are trivial technical fixes for this that telecoms can implement.

    For example before charging me for a messge form any new number, send me a free message telling me what's going on (much like reverse charged calls used to operate), "Service X or number X is trying to send you a premium text message. You will be billed $2 to receive this message. Would you like to receive it?" And if I sanser Yes, then ask if it should remember permissio form this service. Etc.

    Trivial customer service. Suych scams work not just human gullibility, but on pathetic service provision loopholes.

  30. parth says:

    Hi,

    I wana know how can i then know who viewed my facebook profile without falling in the trap of these probs

  31. kadee says:

    So my friends facebook is private and somehow someone is able to go on it and give information to others about her. Is there a way of knowing who is doing this?

  32. Joe says:

    God only knows how many friends I have warned about this scam. Yet, it still shows up in my news feed.

  33. samantha says:

    i love facebook it like have a phone ur always on it

  34. earlene liles says:

    I would love 2 know who looks at my fb....I don't consider this stalking but curiousity!

  35. Tony Gawarecki says:

    anybody stupid enough to click this deserves it

  36. Rhone Clem says:

    I've been told by a few of my fb friends to I could check who has been looking at my profile. But now your telling me NO I CAN'T. My question to you is why the xxxx not. With the crazy ppl out there. I'm only on Facebook because I have grandkids and framily all over this planet. I just think there needs to be away for some1 to check and see who is looking at there profile! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

  37. Arnold Magee says:

    If you do not receive a stock share or a check from F.B., You are a FREEBIE TO THEM. No cost maintenance free item on the shelf

  38. Rajen Mirdha says:

    Facebook is not only F.A.C.E.B.O.O.K . It is the line of friendship, coaching of behaviour, support of love, tongue of feelings and much more. RAJEN.

  39. she ardomat says:

    what about someone who has i guess deleted u or blocked u ..can he still view your profile? because i cant seem to his profile..Dont ask about why i was blocked or removed.there are personal reasons he considers and i perfectly understand him.At least he told me so before he removed me.I just want to know if he can still view my profile and comments in public..

  40. paul bentley says:

    im just curious about who and why people want to look into others buisness who they dont even know

  41. LDC says:

    Definitely!! I guess, creator of Facebook is smart enough not to have a "Who's viewed me?" section on Facebook. That's the downfall of Friendster. After all, we are all stalkers in different level. If Facebook will activate "Who's viewed me?" section, less people will try to use facebook, since stalking can be traced.

  42. Andy B says:

    I think alot of people are also missing another complete factor... where the hell does facebook store all this information... Millions of people looking at each others profiles each and everyday .... That would be a hell of a lot of information to store somewhere and then have to have it available for you to look at... simply way too complicated and wastefull to actually implement. If you are seriously that concerned learn more about facebooks privacy settings and limit what others can and can't read. If you are worried about a particular person block them they wont even know you exist. Sure they can get friends to check but again if your settings are correct in privacy then no one will obtain anything more than the basics. Learn about privacy settings at
    http://www.facebook.com/help/privacy

    You wouldnt use a chainsaw without knowing how to first ! So why should facebook be any different.

  43. sammy says:

    I like this to see who cares for me.

  44. Internaut says:

    Scammers are doing what comes easy - claiming to share the pot of gold from the rainbow and selling something that is "amazing"; like old fashioned snake-oil hucksters. If one is going to enter the circus, they should be prepared for anything, and avoid everything they don't recognize and take only enough information they can afford to lose.

  45. Bugsy says:

    I left Facebook. Its a complete waste of time. If I wanna visit my friends I call them on the phone. Facebook and other social sites are nothing more than a place for people to hang out who suffer from the look at me syndrom.

  46. maria says:

    I when to someones twitter page ones and the next time i go i was lock of the game, so that means the they CAN see you is looking at there page?

  47. Fake Friends says:

    why not just block people who you don't want lurking around your profile? Simple

  48. priya says:

    if a person is not my fb friend but if the person view my profile will i be able to know that?

  49. Szabi says:

    see facebook help center for this question: http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=210896588933875

    however I believe it is possible to make an app which works like this:
    Every time the app is called(is visible on homepage) takes the whole page HTML cod and reads the information and saves a profile picture a name and some other info to provide a link to that user. By opening the Facebook app with youre name you will see the info about your visitors.

    I do not intend to create this app.

  50. antispyware says:

    Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to

    assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts.

    Anyway I'll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently fast.

  51. Brotha love says:

    The only closest thing I know about who has recently viewed your fb profile is,once you have logged in,then hit the refresh page button a couple of times,the little arrow at the end of the internet address ///
    Now the friends who appear first in your little friend window or the first ones that appear
    on your page in that little box are generally the last ones who viewed your profile.
    you can always test this for yourself I suppose,by getting a friend to view your profile while you are not logged on and then go on within a few minutes after they are done and see for yourself if there name is one of the first ones you see amongst your friends. Just try it when you are logged in next,and do it every 5-10 mins,hit the refresh page button and you should notice it changes the order of friends around.If it does not change it means you are not very popular today....lol
    Hope this helps!!

  52. pmossgate says:

    You may want to look into how every single site/page that uses a facebook, google plus, tweet, or any other social type link on it takes forever to load, just like this page did, and the home page did. And like I said, it's just not this site, its every single site/page that has these links on them. I first noticed it on Yahoo, then on 3 different news sites I read, then on blogs I read, then, well it was occurring everywhere I went, still does. It's annoying waiting for a site/page to load these links when the content is what matters.

  53. amy says:

    wow totally didnt know this :O thanks for the warning :) x

  54. mercy deikumah says:

    someone have enter my profile and lock my profile please msg them to re -
    open my profile coz am finding difficult to long in thanks. please warn them for me.

  55. Flavia says:

    my account was shut down due to phishing .unknowingly i loged into who views your profile.how can i recover my old+account .please help

  56. Jereid says:

    FRIENDSTER is much better, when it comes to profile views . . . . . . its the one thing that many people want , but Facebook still digesting in its system .

  57. Deb Lineker says:

    I have fallen for this. Is there anything I can do about it now? I'm worried

  58. Anna Lysovski says:

    Guys, once i've found the same "offer" in VK.. I couldn't know myself who followed my page, but I was absolutely convenced others could ... So for quiite a long period of time i'd been avoiding to watch most of my" friends" (especially ex's ) pages.. Jeeze that was s o rediculous clicking occasionally on someones page shivering all the day in fear that one would notice!! )))
    But still.... should anybody know how to know... )))))))))))))))))))

  59. karam says:

    but facebook can find out who viewed, and under court order others could too

  60. Jordyn says:

    I know people look at other peoples Facebook profile all the time even me so the whole reason is because i want to see if my crush looks at my Facebook profile

  61. bharathvada says:

    its a fake.... because when u like u have to give your user id and password...
    after few minutes if u open directly it opens without asking any security... be careful...

  62. Paulette Cloutier says:

    Graham, I'm getting pics of half naked women on my facebook page, how do I get rid of that, if I click because it says I have a message or what not, the a site opens up but my antivirus program does not allow this site, which is great but i want to get rid of it completely. How can I do that? thank you

  63. Hackerkepzes says:

    Haha, imagine if you could insert a Google Analytics tag for your profile and can analyize your profile's traffic! :D

  64. Elodie Adeline says:

    who visit ur profile...

  65. jim stojan says:

    so is there any way you can check if someone is checking your profile on facebook

  66. Amthomas says:

    You can set your privacy settings to where only friends can view your information. If someone's worried about their "friends" looking at their profile, why would they friend them or accept their friend request in the first place?

  67. Ben Smith says:

    I hope I was fortunate?

    Symantec blocked everthing (I hope) in time

  68. Jarmez says:

    Actually there was once an app that you could get on Android and it could tell you daily or weekly or what ever you choose....who are the people that have deleted you. I think I still have the apk somewhere?

    Anyway, that was not part of the Facebook API, but I believe the developer just did database analysis to get around this. Take A from B and what is left is your answer. Simple really.

    By the way facebook sucks balls now. I think I am either going to take a holiday away from facebook for a while or possibly permanently? Its such a time sink!

  69. john alfred cordero says:

    oh.. its ok

  70. No, your privacy settings can protect you - so they'll only know your email address if you made it public, etc.

    Of course, you need to be careful about Facebook apps too

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About the author

Graham Cluley has worked in the computer security industry for more than 20 years, developing anti-virus software and doing quite a lot of talking about internet threats. He's won awards for his blogging, but is proudest of the text adventure games he wrote when he was still wearing short trousers. You can learn more about those (the games, not the trousers) at grahamcluley.com. Send Graham an email, subscribe to his updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and App.net, and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.