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Showing posts with label Facebook Scams. Show all posts
Phishing emails
business app Chatbot Cyber Attacks Encryption Facebook Scams Google Firebase Malicious actor Phishing emails

Facebook Users Phished by a Chatbot Campaign


You might be surprised to learn that more users check their chat apps than their social profiles. With more than 1.3 billion users, Facebook Messenger is the most popular mobile messaging service in the world and thus presents enormous commercial opportunities to marketers.

Cybersecurity company SpiderLabs has discovered a fresh phishing campaign using Messenger's chatbot software. 

How do you make it all work? 

Karl Sigler, senior security research manager at Trustwave SpiderLabs, explains: "You don't just click on a link and then be offered to download an app - most people are going to grasp that's an attack and not click on it. In this attack, there's a link that takes you to a channel that looks like tech help, asking for information you'd expect tech support to seek for, and that escalating of the social-engineering part is unique with these types of operations."

First, a fake email from Facebook is sent to the victim – warning that their page has violated the site's community standards and would be deleted within 48 hours. The email also includes a "Appeal Now" link that the victim might use to challenge the dismissal.

The Facebook support team poses an "Appeal Now" link users can click directly from the email, asserting to be providing them a chance to appeal. The chatbot offers victims another "Appeal Now" button while posing as a member of the Facebook support staff. Users who click the actual link are directed to a Google Firebase-hosted website in a new tab.

According to Trustwave's analysis, "Firebase is a software development platform that offers developers with several tools to help construct, improve, and expand the app easier to set up and deploy sites." Because of this opportunity, spammers created a website impersonating a Facebook "Support Inbox" where users can chiefly dispute the reported deletion of their page. 

Increasing Authenticity in Cybercrime 

The notion that chatbots are a frequent factor in modern marketing and live assistance these days and that people are not prone to be cautious of their contents, especially if they come from a fairly reliable source, is one of the factors that contribute to this campaign's effectiveness. 

According to Sigler, "the advertising employs the genuine Facebook chat function. Whenever it reads 'Page Support,' My case number has been provided by them. And it's likely enough to get past the obstacles that many individuals set when trying to spot the phishing red flags."

Attacks like this, Sigler warns, can be highly risky for proprietors of business pages. He notes that "this may be very effectively utilized in a targeted-type of attack." With Facebook login information and phone numbers, hackers can do a lot of harm to business users, Sigler adds.

As per Sigler, "If the person in charge of your social media falls for this type of scam, suddenly, your entire business page may be vandalized, or they might exploit entry to that business page to acquire access to your clients directly utilizing the credibility of that Facebook profile." They will undoubtedly pursue more network access and data as well. 

Red flags to look out for 

Fortunately, the email's content contains a few warning signs that should enable recipients to recognize the letter as spoofed. For instance, the message's text contains a few grammatical and spelling errors, and the recipient's name appears as "Policy Issues," which is not how Facebook resolves such cases.

More red flags were detected by the experts: the chatbot's page had the handle @case932571902, which is clearly not a Facebook handle. Additionally, it's barren, with neither followers nor posts. The 'Very Responsive' badge on this page, which Facebook defines as having a response rate of 90% and replying within 15 minutes, was present although it seemed to be inactive. To make it look real, it even used the Messenger logo as its profile image. 

Researchers claim that the attackers are requesting passwords, email addresses, cell phone numbers, first and last names, and page names. 

This effort is a skillful example of social engineering since malicious actors are taking advantage of the platform they are spoofing. Nevertheless, researchers urge everyone to exercise caution when using the internet and to avoid responding to fake messages. Employing the finest encryption keys available will protect your credentials.
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Malicious actor
"IS that you" Phishing Scam CERT Credential stealing Cyber Attacks Facebook Scams Malicious actor

Facebook :"Is that you?" 500,000 People Were Victims of this Phishing Scam

 

Facebook has often been a favorite hunting ground for cybercriminals who delight in preying on the naive members of the internet community. While addressing a very prevalent fraud known as "Is that you?" cybernews has conducted research. It's a type of video phishing scam in which the attacker delivers a link to a fictitious video in which the victim appears. When you click, the trouble begins as soon as you enter some personal information and log in. 

Researchers were recently rewarded for such diligence when they received a warning from fellow cyber investigator Aidan Raney – who originally contacted them after the original results were released – that malicious links were being sent to users. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that thousands of these phishing links had been circulated via a devious network spanning the social media platform's back channels. If left unchecked, hundreds of thousands of naive social network users might fall prey to the shady connections - the "Is That You?" scam was said to have ensnared half a million victims before researchers discovered it. 

Raney explained, "I worked out what servers did what, where code was hosted, and how I might identify additional servers." "I then used this information, as well as urlscan.io, to seek for more phishing sites with similar features to this one." 

A thorough examination of the servers linked to the phishing links revealed a page that was transmitting credentials to devsbrp. app. A banner believed to be attached to a control panel was discovered with the wording "panelfps by braunnypr" printed on it. A second search using keywords led the study team right to the panel and banner designer, whose email address and password variations were also identified – neatly turning the tables on fraudsters who prey on unwary web users' credentials. 

Cybernews accessed a website which proved to be the command and control hub for most of the phishing assaults linked to the gang, known to include at least 5 threat actors but could have plenty more, using the threat actor's personal details. This gave our brave investigators a wealth of information about the culprits of the Facebook phishing scam, including the likely country of residence – the Dominican Republic.

"We were able to distribute the user list for everyone who has signed up for this panel," the Cybernews researcher explained. "We started unearthing the identities with as many people on the list as we could using the usernames on the list, but there is still more work to be done." Researchers provided the appropriate information to the Dominican Republic's Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) at the time, as evidence suggested that the campaign had started there as well.
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User Data
Data Breach Data Stolen Facebook Facebook Scams Social Media. User Data

1.5 Billion Facebook Users Data Breach or a Scam?

 

Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp were all down for 7 hours worldwide meanwhile unknown hackers allegedly stole 1.5 billion Facebook users’ data and sold it on the dark web, the Russian Privacy Affairs agency confirmed in its recent findings. The data includes user names, email addresses, addresses, locations, and phone numbers, as per RPA's findings. 

“It’s the biggest and most significant Facebook data dump to date– about three times greater than the April leak of 533 million phone numbers,” the publication noted. 

However, while responding to the security incident, Facebook siad that “this was old data and the security vulnerability responsible had been patched back in 2019”. 

At present, it is yet to be confirmed if the RPA's findings are legitimate or not. However, some people reported that they tried to buy Facebook users’ data. However, after paying $5,000 amount to the hackers in exchange for data, the buyers got nothing, hence the probability of a scam underneath is on the cards. 

The fact that the buyers who paid the hackers in an attempt to buy the stolen data got nothing could be proof that the group's claims of having stolen data are baseless. However, security experts still suggest all Facebook users stay vigilant for unusual activities on their accounts. 

At a Senate subcommittee hearing with a Facebook whistle-blower on Tuesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee said, “News broke yesterday that the private data of over 1.5 billion — that’s right, 1.5 billion — Facebook users are being sold on a hacking forum.” “That’s its biggest data breach to date,”  the subcommittee’s ranking Republican member further added. 

Although many believe that data has been breached, there is no solid proof of it yet. Aric Toler, a researcher with Bellingcat, an investigative journalism group, made a statement and added that someone claimed to have paid for the hacked data and they found out that it was a scam so it has to be confirmed as of yet. 
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Spam Report
Facebook Scams Scam Report Spam Report

Facebook's 'Dislike Button' scam


Few days after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on September 2015, in a Q&A session announced that the long awaited Facebook ‘Dislike Button’ will be implemented soon, scammers seized upon this opportunity in spreading phishing attacks and malware.

Soon after this, many users got the link inviting them to download the Facebook’s ‘ Dislike Button’, it says that it is "invite-only feature". One of the most popular dislike button scam is titled as “Get newly introduced Facebook dislike button on your profile". Once clicking on these links leads the victims to a malicious websites.

The ultimate goal of the scammer  is to encourage users to share the link on their Facebook page. Once it is  spread on Facebook, they asks you for your personal information and account credentials, or sometimes it  downloads the malicious software causing further damage to the computer.

Zuckerberg,  the co-founder and CEO said that, "We are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it."

Computer security expert Graham Cluley  showed this concern over this on his blog.  "Scams like this trick you into liking pages, and sharing the link with your friends, using the bait of something alluring...in some cases they will even lead you to pricey premium rate mobile phone subscriptions, online surveys that generate the scammers income, or trick you into downloading malicious code onto your PC."

And advised that, "Don't be duped. If you're a Facebook crack-addict then try to resist the urge of falling for the latest scam, and wait for Facebook to properly roll-out new features as and when they choose."
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Spam Report
Facebook Scams Spam Report

Acai Berry Diet Facebook spam attack: Don't buy, don't try, don't reply, says expert


Most of the Facebook users would have noticed various websites promoting Acai Berry diet products. Sometimes, even our friends recommend Acai Berry advertisements on Facebook. However, think twice before you click on those links. If you do, you end on some diet supplement scam page.

In the Acai Berry scam, we can only see two successive postings on our Facebook Timeline without our permission. Like:

“Successfully results in this particular health solution.”

Then, here comes a follow-up post as if anyone has forgot

“The link, hehe.. http://goo.gl/xxxxxx.”

Paul Ducklin, a computer security expert, wrote on Naked Security's blog post “You'd be right to be suspicious, at least if you know your friend is competent in English, because some of the phrases stretch the limits of comprehensibility. However, we're guessing that there are two postings in order to add some kind of human-sounding realism.”

He added that it was understandable that automated bogus messages wouldn't forget the link in the first place. And secondly, humans would rush to correct their error with comments saying "hehe."

The expert said that short links like: goo.gl URLs have been used in the campaign and seem to have redirected to URLs.

For example: [hexdigits].my.test/[letters]/image_[hexdigits].jpeg

“If you click through to the buy page and check the very limited disclaimers and FAQs there, you'll find that the product only helps you to lose weight if you combine it with a diet specifically designed to make you lose weight. So, assuming that you spot the scam for what it is before you fill in your credit card number on the buy page, and bail out, you should be OK,” he added.

“Don't buy, don't try, don't reply,” he wrote.

He suggested that if anyone gets to know about he/she has been posting ‘out-of-character posts’ without his/her approval, please check the following:

•             Is your computer patched and up-to-date?
•             Is your anti-virus up-to-date and running properly?
•             Has someone else been logging into your accounts?
•             Did you use the same password on multiple sites?
•             Have you authorized any apps to access your social media accounts?   
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Spam Report
Facebook Scams Spam Report

Facebook hoax "Prayers for Like"


The message is a disgraceful hoax designed to get maximum number of likes for a facebook page and further promote it through sharing the message.

A baby's photograph was taken out illegally from a personal facebook profile and is circulated without the parents permission. Unfortunately the baby from the photograph died two weeks after her birth. As the baby's picture is being circulated without the parents permission, it is causing great pain to them. If this hoax message comes your way, do not like or share it. Advisory, report this particular message to Facebook.

According to the facebook's currently distributed hoax message, you can offer prayers to this baby girl by liking or sharing the picture. However, liking or sharing the particular message would not help the baby, infact would cause considerable distress to the parents and make them belligerent.

The people who create these messages are highly motivated by the green eyed monster and look through the children whose pictures they misuse. Facebook pages with large number of likes are a source of black market and can also be sold to inhumane internet marketers and used to make further scam and hoax messages.

Believes of offering prayers for someone who is unfotunate is sane but reciprocating it through social networking sites is simply absurd. Are we to believe on a denigrating fact that, “almighty has a deal with facebook that one shrare contributes hundred prayers?”

Not only this it can also be seen on other pages including images of God and Godesses and they ask for a like or comment to seek There blessings.Well its ironical that even the Almighty now needs likes, shares and comments on their images for blessing the mankind.Huh.Well my suggestion is open up your eyes and think broadly.

If this message comes your way, do not like, share or comment on such a post. It plays in favour of inhumane and immoral people who earn from such hoaxes.

The company needs to take action that ensures that these scam messages are removed from the network as quickly as possible.

Moreover, facebook has actually removed some of the messages, as they have been reported a number of times. The company should ensure that these hoaxes are removed from the network as quickly as possible.
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Spam Report
Facebook Scams Information Security Spam Report

Scam Alert: Your Facebook Accounts will be Permanently Disabled

We have seen large numbers of facebook posts that promise something, but it turns out to be a scam.  Fb users are still believing such kind of posts and blindly following the instructions.  So, Cyber criminals are keep coming up with new themes to trick users.

Over the past few days, i have been receiving a facebook notifications informing that one of my friends mentioned me in a comment.  I had a look at the post, it is none other than a facebook scam.

The scam posts says "to all facebook users Your Facebook Accounts will Permanent Disable. you must register your account to avoid permanent disabled . How to register? Go to our pinned post. and follow instructions carefully!" 

It asks you to copy and paste some code in the console of your browser.  By blindly following the instructions of scammers,  users are allowing scammers to do various actions('like', 'sharing', 'tagging friends' and more) on their behalf.

Earlier this year,  we learned that scammers were tricking users by promising them that following the instructions will help them to hack their friends' accounts.

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Spam Report
Facebook Scams Spam Report

Facebook Scams: "Hacking any Facebook Account", "Facebook Music Theme"


A new facebook scam which is claimed to be a script to "Hack any Facebook account" is spreading like Wildfire.  Recently, i also came across a facebook scam post that promise a "Facebook Music Theme". I've been tagged in the spam posts by more than 20 friends within a week.

The post has a link to a script file which is randomly hosted in dropbox, pastebin, textuploader and other file hosting services.

The post tricks users into thinking that it is a script to hack any facebook accounts.  It urge users to use it before it is getting blocked by facebook.

It asks them to copy the script and paste in the "console" section of the "inspect element" option in your browser.  It claims you will get username and password once you done the process.


Here is what exactly happening:
When you execute paste the code in the console section, it will run the code on behalf you.  So, it will send several requests including "Like" & "comment" request".  It means that you are unknowingly "liked" and "commented" on the scammer's pages.


It also tag all of your friends in a comment so that it can spread the scam further and get more victims.

I can't believe that there are still plenty of people out there who still believe some stupid scripts can hack accounts.

Are you one of the victim who followed the stupid instructions? 
No need to panic.  As far as i know, the script only "likes"& "comments" on behalf you.  So, you can simply go to "Activity" log page in your account and unlike & uncomment them.  If you are reading this article, make sure you are not doing the same mistake again.
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