facebook: “ Facebook Charging in 2011 ” is a Scam. " Facebook Is Deleting Accounts " is Another Scam

By Cesar Ortiz

Now that facebook, suddenly without a major hint, in the f8Conference in San Francisco, dropped a major change to the way they present their interface to the users with a new platform  concept, scammers are having a field day taking advantage of the sweeping change in the facebook interface. Facebook  introduced its Open Graph platform, including the Timeline front end. Facebook does not need to charge for their portal, they make plenty of money on advertising, game sales and other paid for commission and value added services. This is another scam. A similar scam is that “ Facebook is Deleting Accounts ”.

Friends that fall into the trap will unwillingly send you a message post that reads:

Beginning of quote

“IT IS OFFICIAL. IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON, IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY”

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If you take a look at the facebook login page- below the word “Sign Up”- you will see a statement in small blue type that say “It’s free and always will be.” Enough said.  Users who fall into the “ Facebook Charging in 2011 ” trap will be contributing to spamming or worse. According to HUFFPOST, these are the top nine worse case scenarios to this date that a user will fall into this “Facebook Charging In 2011” or similar scams.

(1)     Clickjacking: Clickjackers on Facebook entice users to copy and paste text into their browser bar by posting too-good-to-be-true offers and eye-catching headlines. Once the user infects his own computer with the malicious code, the clickjackers can take control of his account, spam his friends and further spread their scam.

(2)     Fake Polls or Questionnaires: If you click on an ad or a link that takes you to questionnaire on a site outside Facebook, it's best to close the page. When you complete a fake quiz, you help a scammer earn commission.

(3)     Phising Schemes: Phishers go after your credentials (username, password and sometimes more), then take over your profile, and may attempt to gain access to your other online accounts. Phishing schemes can be difficult to spot, especially if the scammers have set up a page that resembles Facebook's login portal.

(4)     Phony Email Or Message: Facebook warns users to be on the lookout for emails or messages from scammers masquerading as "The Facebook Team" or "Facebook." These messages often suggest "urgent action" and may ask the user to update his account.

(5)     Money Transfer Scams: If a friend sent you a desperate-sounding Facebook chat message or wall post asking for an emergency money transfer, you'd want to help, right? Naturally. That's what makes this scam so awful.

(6)     Fake Friends Request: Not all friend requests come from real people, despite Facebook's safeguards against bots. Some Facebook accounts exist purely to establish broad connections for spamming or extracting personal data from users, so watch out whose friend requests you accept.

(7)     Fake Page Scam: Malicious pages, groups or event invitations aim to trick the user into performing actions that Facebook considers "abusive."

(8)     Rogue Applications: Oftentimes, the apps look convincingly real enough for users to click "Allow," as they would do with a normal Facebook app. However, rogue apps use this permission to spread spam through your network of friends.

(9)     The Koobface Worm: Koobface spreads across social networks like Facebook via posts containing a link that claims to be an Adobe Flash Player update.