Beware of Facebook Scams

We have posted before about being wary of social media scams, and would like to give you some updated information on how to be reactive, as well as proactive. While a current popular Facebook scam involves receiving free flights through Southwest airlines, this isn’t the only one to be cautious of! Faulty links are scattered throughout the popular social network, so it is crucial to beware of promises that seem “too good to be true”. Clicking on one of these gives the application access to your account. The power of scams on Facebook is that it can easily spread to all your friends. Many will post spam comments on your friends’ walls, and if they click it, the cycle continues.

If anyone posts these on your wall, your best bet is to delete them immediately. You may also want to let your friend know that their account security has been compromised. If you have clicked the link and are spamming your friends, you need to remove the application’s access to your account. This can be done under Account—Privacy Settings—Apps and Websites. Hover over the faulty app, click the pencil that is displayed, and you will be able to remove the application. (In the Southwest Airlines case, the faulty app is called Travel Inn.) It is also a good idea to delete all the spam comments posted from your account.

For future reference, be extra careful when granting applications permission to access your Facebook account, in order to protect the accounts of you and your friends.