Scam Signature Message:

who had blocked you ?

Trending: July 2011

Scam Type: Survey Scam, Photo Tagging Exploit

Why it’s a Scam:

Clicking on the wall post will take you to a Photo Album of the person sending out the scam:

Here you can see a long list of friends who have been targeted in this scam. Anyone tagged in this image will receive a notification when they login to Facebook that they have been tagged in a photo. A post will also show up in their news feed. The scammer is hoping this will lure the user and their friends to the photo containing the scam link. The person sending out these messages likely has a rogue application installed in his or her Facebook account. The end game here is to get users to click on the bit.ly link shown above. Doing so loads the following survey scam:

How to Deal with the Scam:

Facebook currently allows your friends to tag you in photos, and there is no way to disable this feature. One thing you can do is to adjust the privacy setting that will allow no one else to see the photos you are tagged in. In the right-hand corner, click Account –> Privacy Settings –> Customize Settings:

After you click on “Customize Settings,” scroll down to the “Things others share” section. Here you will edit “Photos and videos you’re tagged in”

Click “Edit Settings” and select “Only Me.” Even if you are tagged by a friend’s rogue Facebook application, only you will see the tag:

*This setting will stop ALL of your friends from seeing ANY photo’s you are tagged in or tagged yourself in. So even the tagged photos you want people to see, will no longer be seen.

Another defense against the photo-tagging exploit is to control the “Info accessible through your friends” This will limit the information available to applications, games and websites when your friends use them. Please note, this will NOT stop a Rogue Application from tagging you in a photo that IT places on one of your friends walls. It will only stop the rogue app from accessing YOUR Photos through your friends.

You will need to access your privacy settings to complete the next set of actions (Account/ Privacy Settings/ Applications & Websites.)

Click “Edit your settings” then scroll down a bit until you see “Info accessible through your friends” – click the “Edit Settings” tab here.

On this screen, deselect the “My photos” box and click “Save Changes.” This will not give Facebook applications access to your photos.

These may be extreme but necessary precautions until Facebook gets a handle on the Photo Tagging exploit currently in use by scammers!

Also, be sure you let your friend that sent you the message know that they probably have a rogue application installed. Refer them to this guide, so they can clean up their account.

If you or your Facebook friends are falling for tricks like this, it’s time to get yourself informed of the latest threats. Be sure to join the Facecrooks page on Facebook to be kept informed of the latest security issues. Also check out:

Your Ultimate Guide to Facebook Scams and How to Deal with Them

How to spot a Facebook Survey Scam

BitDefender Safego is a Facebook application you can install that will scan your News Feed and help keep you safe from scams like this.