14 DAY TRIAL // Messages that appear to be coming from Facebook may be found in inboxes these days, threatening to delete the recipients' account if they fail to confirm some details within 24 hours.
Like in many other such cases, the message doesn't actually come from Facebook, but from a cybercrook that wants to steal social network accounts.
Many might wonder what someone can do with a hacked Facebook profile. As it turns out, security experts believe that in 2012 social media accounts will be more valuable than anything to crooks, since this way they can rely on the trust factor to spread their malicious campaigns.
In this certain situation, we're not seeing a fake message that's only meant to scare users, but it's actually a phishing campaign that targets to steal the online identities of unsuspecting members.
“LAST WARNING : Your account is reported to have violated the policies that are considered annoying or insulting Facebook users. Until we system will disable your account within 24 hours if you do not do the reconfirmation. Please confirm your account below: [LINK],” reads a variant of the scam provided by Hoax Slayer.
Once the link is clicked, the user is taken to a page that replicates to a certain point a genuine Facebook webpage. The victim is asked to provide email, password, security question, the answer to this question, credit cards number and country.
Unfortunately, the scam doesn't end here. After the first form is completed, another page appears requesting the customer's webmail and password.
To make sure they get away not only with a Facebook profile but also with the details of a credit card, a third form is displayed, requesting once again the first six digits of the victim's card and his username.
Facebook members are advised to stay clear such phony messages as social media websites will never ask for credit card numbers and email passwords.