Scam Signature Message: Farmville Rewards Program – This rare Ptarmigan Willow needs a home, help him!

Scam Type: Survey Scam, Fake Fan Page

Trending: January 2011

Why it’s a Scam:

Once you click on the Wall Post link, you are taken to the following page:

When you click “Yes” to accept the reward, you are taken to the following page:

At this stage of the scam, you are required to create a wall post that will spam the scammer’s message to all of your friends. After typing in your message and clicking “Publish”, you will then be taken to the following screen:

This is where the scammers try to hook you in. What Farmville player wouldn’t like 200 free Farm Cash? Don’t get too excited…If you click “Yes,” you will not receive 200 in FV Cash. Instead, you will be prompted to complete the following survey:

This is the survey scammer’s end game. Each time someone completes a survey they get paid. Don’t complete any surveys and give them personal information they can use to do you harm. Some surveys require you to download a game to proceed. These downloads often contain viruses or other malware that can infect your system. Never download anything from scams like this.

How to Deal with the Scam:

If you did make the mistake of publishing a status update to your wall, you should clean-up your newsfeed to remove references to the scam.

Several Farmville scams have hit Facebook lately. Most them offer free Farm Cash or a specialty item. These are almost always scams. Check the Farmville and Zynga official site to verify any Facebook offers or promotions before clicking on any questionable posts.

If you submitted your cell phone number for any of the surveys, then you should contact your carrier immediately to keep any bogus charging from appearing on your bill.

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 stay informed of the latest security issues. Also check out:

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