'I will never text again after seeing this' Facebook survey scam

Filed Under: Facebook, Social networks, Spam, Video

Last month I blogged about a rogue Facebook application that had tricked hundreds of thousands of users into giving it access to their profiles, and spreading a message saying they were "never texting again".

Today I stumbled across a Facebook page called "I May NEVER TÊXT AGAIN After Reading THI$!!" ("I May Never Text Again After Reading This!!") which uses a similar message to encourage users into "liking" it, and sharing a similar message to all of their Facebook friends.

Never text again message on Facebook

Here's a YouTube video where I demonstrate what happens:

(Enjoy this video? You can check out more on the SophosLabs YouTube channel and subscribe if you like)

Remember, the issue here isn't just that you're helping scammers earn money by advertising links to their online surveys - by "liking" Facebook pages like this you are also opening yourself up to the possibility of future attacks too.

Over 200,000 Facebook users have already "liked" the rogue page, meaning that at anytime the unknown owner of the page can send them an update which could contain an unwanted advertising message or - worse - a malicious link.

If you're on Facebook, and want to learn more about security threats on the social network and elsewhere on the internet, join the Sophos Facebook page.

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14 Responses to 'I will never text again after seeing this' Facebook survey scam

  1. Leoooa says:

    how do i unlike?

    • Paul Ducklin says:

      If you're logged into Facebook, clicking a Like button for the first time adds you to its "likers". If you click again on a button you already Like, that "unlikes" it. (Not as obvious as it could be. Once Liked, the button changes appearance but doesn't change to say that it now works as "Unlike" .)

      Never thought we'd need verbs in English such as "unfriend" and "unlike"...

  2. N.B.Thomsen says:

    Profile -> Info -> Click edit in "likes and interests" -> Click "show other pages" - > Now you can click "remove" on the pages you dont want to like anymore.

  3. Jason says:

    I just turn off all platform applications. That way, I have 100% confidence.

  4. Jacob says:

    Gotta say, I feel like anyone who believes something as obvious as that deserves whatever's coming to them.

  5. Justinsane says:

    They sure do, Jacob. They sure do.

  6. Emzeeleighbeekii says:

    My mother got this on her facebook, and although I was almost positive it was a scam, I still clicked out of sheer curiousity. My mother can barely work facebook, she wouldn't have opened the link because, she didn't know you could like things until just a short time ago.

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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.