back to article Facebook scams now spread by dodgy browser plug-ins

Con men have developed a new approach towards spreading scams on Facebook. Instead of using status updates as a lure, the latest generation of Facebook scams attempt to trick marks into installing malicious browser extensions. The plug-ins are supposedly needed to view non-existent video clips supposedly posted by an earlier …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Ian Davies
    FAIL

    Facebook themselves are contributing to the problem by still requiring Flash to view in-line videos instead of supporting HTML5. I actually have Flash installed (albeit reigned in by ClickToFlash so I decide when it runs) but Facebook sees this as not having it at all and prompts me to download the Flash plugin whenever I click a video.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's new about this apart from the word 'facebook'? "You need this codec/app/whatever to see this shiny thing" scams have been around forever.

    1. Usually Right or Wrong

      the marks come to you

      there is no need to send phishing emails with the added bonus that if they are dumb enough to be on facebook then they are probably dumb enough to click on links to see the shiny thing, increasing the hit rate.

      1. Ian Davies
        Thumb Down

        Bravo...

        ...for working in a bit of social bigotry to your answer. Well done.

  3. ravenviz Silver badge
    WTF?

    Bad spelling

    The spelling and grammar in those links are terrible, anyone thinking they're genuine has little web sense. Maybe websense should be taught in school (maybe it is, I left a while ago before interwebs were invented).

    1. Spud2go
      Pint

      But...

      U dont need 2 lern speling 2 yoos the interwebs!

    2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Facepalm

      Bad spelling

      Oh, I don't know, I've seen worse in a formal business requirements speciation.

  4. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    Unhappy

    Personal security.

    I don’t know if it’s fair to blame “dumb” users in this case.

    The somewhat flawed windows security model has finally come home to roost, 20 years of windows indoctrination have created a culture where people expect to be able to install what ever you want whenever you want.

    The increasing number of formats is also contributing to the problem, when I first started working with computers only .bat, .com and .exe file types represented executable code.

    I’ve even had the unfortunate experience on my new windoze 7 laptop, I was looking at elReg page with an embedded youTube movie on it when windoze announced that I needed to install a ‘plugin’ in order view the video, then windoze reported that I didn’t have the authority to install the plugin (Hooray!!!) and then asked would I like to upgrade my level of authority so that I could (Boo!!!!!!).

    People don’t go out and leave the keys to the house in the door, they lock their cars when they park then and they don’t write their PINs on the back of credit cards.

    People have to start treating their computers with the same level of security that would apply in the rest of their lives.

  5. Monti
    Meh

    Clever use of language...

    Wow, you used "Windoze" several times but you missed out on a few opportunities to use "Micro$oft"! That would have really gotten the message across!

  6. SpaMster
    Thumb Up

    Pro Tip :

    Dont install browser plugins, especially dodgy search bars

  7. LarsG

    18 months ago......

    It was tried on me, so it's not exactly new news.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like