Security researchers are warning Facebook members to avoid clicking on a link that purportedly offers users easy access to a “dislike” button.
“It’s the latest survey scam spreading virally across Facebook, using the tried-and-tested formula [exploited] in the past by other viral scams,” warned Graham Cluley of Sophos.
“Falling for any of these scams (which promise some lurid or eye-popping or exclusive content) typically trick you into giving a rogue FB apppermission to access your profile, posting spam messages from your account and asking you to complete an online survey.”
Cluley explained that the current “dislike” scam was formulated to tempt gullible users who want to express a negative opinion about posts, links and uploads.
“[But] if you do give the app permission to run, it silently updates your Facebook status to promote the link that tricked you in the first place, thus spreading the message virally to your Facebook friends and online contacts.
“[Obviously], you still haven’t at this point been given a ‘Dislike’ Facebook button, and the rogue application requires you to complete an online survey before ultimately pointing you to a Firefox browser add-on for a Facebook dislike button developed by FaceMod.”
However, Cluley emphasized that FaceMod doesn’t appear to be connected with the scam, as their browser add-on is simply being used as bait.
“So, if you really want to try out FaceMod’s add-on (and note – we’re not endorsing it, and haven’t verified if it works or not), get it direct from the Firefox Add-ons webpage, not by giving a rogue application permission to access your Facebook profile,” he added.
