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News
By Anthony Spadafora
published 20 April 2021
Don't click on that ad or post telling you to update Facebook Messenger
(Image credit: DenPhotos / Shutterstock)
The Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Group-IB has discovered a large-scale phishing campaign which is being used to target Facebook Messenger users worldwide.
While this new Facebook Messenger scam campaign originated in the summer of 2020, it began picking up steam in April of this year when the number of posts on the social network inviting users to install the latest Messenger update reached 5,700.
In order to appear more legitimate, the cybercriminals behind the campaign registered for accounts on Facebook with names that mimic the real app such as Messanger, Meseenger, Massengar while using the official Facebook Messenger logo as their profile picture. At the same time though, they also used link shortening services like bit.ly to bypass Facebook's scam filters.
If a user clicks on the link in one of these fake ads, they are taken to a fake Facebook Messenger website with a login form used by the scam campaign to harvest their credentials. The cybercriminals used a number of different free web hosting services to create these fake login pages and they even offered Facebook users non-existent features such as being able to see who visited their profiles or to view deleted messages to entice them to login.
Group-IB has informed Facebook regarding this campaign but until it is shut down, users of the social network should be on the lookout for these fake ads and avoid clicking on shortened URLs as they can lead to phishing pages or even malware. Misspellings in brand names and web addresses are another thing to look out for when trying to identify scam campaigns online.
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Sep 29, 2023 · Facebook Messenger scammers disguise themselves as your trusted friends and family. Do you think that you’ve been contacted by a scammer on Facebook or worry that you might be in the future? Find out how the Facebook Messenger platform is used to trick people into giving away their personal, private information.
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A phishing scam is. A form of identity theft that gets you to volunteer personal information without you realizing what’s happening. These attacks come from people who want to use your information for their own dishonest benefit (example: hack your Facebook, email or bank account).
