14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook fan pages are important to many organizations. However, hijacked pages can represent a valuable asset for cybercriminals, since they can be abused for a wide range of malicious schemes.
A phishing website spotted by Symantec researchers in May was designed to trick Facebook page owners into handing over their login credentials by telling them that they can “increase their social security” by following a verification process.
“The verification process for Fan Pages it’s a brand new feature to increase your social security. This process is mandatory and it’s open only until 30.05.2013. The Fan Pages that are not verified until that date will be closed permanently,” reads a message on the phishing site hosted on a server located in the US.
To complete the so-called verification process, victims were instructed to enter their fan page name, email address, password, and security code.
Of course, the process didn’t help secure Facebook fan pages. Instead, the submitted information ended up in the hands of phishers.
It’s worth noting that the crooks attempted to make the page more realistic by hosting it on an SSL secured website.
It’s uncertain if this particular scam is still doing the rounds, but users are advised to always be on the lookout for such phishing schemes.