Another false alert is staining the walls of unsuspecting Facebook members

Nov 28, 2011 11:34 GMT  ·  By

Facebook members who enjoy the Café World Zynga game may be presented with an advertisement that claims a certain avatar called “BBQ ENTHUSIAST” they might run across in the game is actually a malicious virus.

In fact, the warning message that foresees awful things is nothing more than a hoax, such a piece of malware being unheard of so far, reports Hoax Slayer.

“PLEASE POST TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO PLAYS CAFE WORLD. .. If an avatar walks into your cafe in CAFE WORLD holding the name ‘BBQ ENTHUSIAST’ do not click on it. This avatar contains a TROJAN HORSE VIRUS. If you click on it by accident, log off Facebook, immediately,” reads the phony alert.

The instructions on how to remove the so-called “trojan horse virus” are as outrageous as the message itself.

“Go to your Security Program, click on BOOT SCAN. Click on TURN OFF COMPUTER. You computer will turn off and then turn on, by itself and then the BOOT SCAN will begin. It may take up to an hour before it is finished. When it is finished, check your Scan logs to see if there was a virus. If you find a virus, move it to the VIRUS CHEST. Do not try and turn it off yourself. Let the security program do it,” reads the rest of the scam.

As anyone with decent IT knowledge would tell you, the note is full of artistic terms that seem to be made up by someone who has no idea what he’s talking about. Words like “Trojan horse virus” and “virus chest” are very similar to the ones used in messages where internauts are warned that Yahoo! will delete their account or Facebook will charge them money.

Even though a virus scan is recommended from time to time, users are advised to stay away from such messages that only cause panic and take away the real pleasure of playing the game.