Oakland, CA May 23, 2012--Facebook users, watch out. A clever scam in the form of a fake account cancellation email is making the rounds, and it's easy to get fooled. Don't let the threat of losing your account trick you into installing malware on your computer.
How the Scam Works:
The scam starts with a suspicious email informing Facebook users that they have a received an "account cancellation request," reports computer security blog Naked Security. (See sample email below) Recipients are urged to follow a link to cancel the request
Here's the clever part. The link appears to be official because it goes to a facebook.com address. Really, it links to a third-party application just running on the Facebook platform.
If you do click on the link, a message asks you to allow an unknown application to run on your computer. Click the "run" button, and you will see a message telling you to download the new version of Adobe Flash. The file that downloads is not the latest version of Flash, but code allowing hackers to spy on your activties and take control of your computer.
For More Information
For more information and screen shots of the scam, see Naked Security's original article.
For more scams in your area, check out BBB's complete scam directory.
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