Several local Facebook accounts have been hacked and are unwittingly spreading malware in a familiar manner. If you’ve received a message in your inbox from a friend’s unfortunately hacked account, asking you if the video they’ve linked in the message is yours, don’t open the link.
This method of passing around malware started years ago, but in the past days, Facebook users in Singapore have reported receiving these messages again.
The messages usually run along the lines of including your name, a question about a video that is reportedly yours, a shocked-faced emoji, and then a link that contains a virus which infects your device.
If you click the link, it opens to a copycat Facebook login site, a page that asks for your email address and password before you are allowed to watch the video. When you put this information in, scammers then gain access to your Facebook account and and send the same message to your contact list, thus spreading the malware further. Another possibility is that clicking the link may lead you to a malicious website that will cause you to unwittingly download and install malware on your device.
If friends have been telling you that they’ve received these kinds of messages of you, your account may have been hacked. This malware uses cookies that track the what you do online, and also forcibly bring more adds to your screen, which cause scammers to earn more money. They may even cause you to click on certain link.
The best thing to do is to activate your 2-step authentication on Facebook, and even more importantly, do not click on any suspicious links.
No wonder you may have been seeing fellow Singaporeans posting things like these:
