That chat window in Facebook is targeted more these days.
I get awfully leery when I get an chat message from a “friend” out of the blue especially if they have had no contact with me say in months since we’ve been friends.
I saw the following pop up in the little chat window:
whoa, look at this webpage put this in your browser link fb.com/546897642006556?fynxyss i actually was given oone hurry up they only have 200 remaining
If you plan on visiting that hyperlink, PLEASE, PLEASE LOG OUT of Facebook first.
If you don’t, you risk being hacked and that seems to be how many scams or hacks on FB work.
I don’t even need to ask my buddy Richard if he did send this to me because I know his employer would be on his case if he was ‘moonlighting’ .
It’s probably not a good idea to link your accounts. Convenience comes with some inherent risks.
Ever since I read about how one person lost his precious pictures using iCloud and Amazon, I’ve decided a couple seconds of entering a password is safer.
Some of these hacks just send chat messages to all your friends and it’s more of a nuisance but increasingly they could have nastier intentions.
I hope not to become a victim.
Have you been hacked before?
Did it cause you a lot of grief?
All your ‘friends’ messaging you about your account being hacked is probably the last thing you want read again and again, isn’t it?
How hard was it to gain control of your FB account after that? Please let me know via comments.
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HI Dominique,
Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment. I can imagine the horror when you saw all those chat windows pop out.
I can only imagine the frustration and countless hours you spent emailing back and forth to undo this.
It’s surely a good reason not to ‘link’ all your online email accounts, FB, Linkedln and other accounts.
I hope I don’t have to find out but statistically I have a feeling, I will be a victim one day. Hopefully when that happens, I will realize quickly.
Changing our passwords often is probably the best way, isn’t it?
Thanks for the tip to Facecrooks. I’ll have to see what other tricks they try.
Hi DeeAnn,
I usually have the chat offline too if I want to work uninterrupted. I don’t have a smartphone or an iPad, but from what I can see on my iPod touch, it’s a different experience.
Thanks for commenting DeeAnn. Nice to know someone is reading. LOL
Oh yes Peter, my FB account has been hacked once trough one of these horrible links.
I was “new” on there and did not know any thing about what was going on ; one night, the chat box opened with a very aggressive message from a close friend saying something like “you should be ashamed of yourself” and a link for a photo.
I felt really hurt my friend was so bad with me and clicked on the link to try to understand what was happening with her…and it immediately begun, suddenly about 5O chat windows opened, with the same kind of message, and i was unable to stop it.
I understood that something nasty was on the go and changed immediately my password… but it as too late.
I sent messages to my friends to explain that these messages where not sent by me and apologize, then, everything seemed to be normal … for a while.
A few weeks later, i realized that my mail account has been hacked as well, my family and friends receiving “silly” messages from me.
It took me 2 to days to delete, my account, send apologies and warnings to everybody, modify all the passwords and mail address in all the shopping sites i was connected with. What a nightmare ! And it was not the end of it…
Two months later, Facebook blocked my account and sent me a mail to inform me that my friends where receiving on their personal mail addresses, a message from me saying that i was stuck somewhere in Africa and asking them to send me money there to pay for my return ticket.
Now, i know more about all these scams, and can recognize them “easy”,i report them immediately. I also change my password frequently, and stay offline all the time.
There are pages, like “Facecrooks” that i find helpful to stay informed with the latest scams running on FB.
Peter I keep ‘Chat’ off, I don’t like being interrupted on Facebook. I am too busy socializing (choke).
But I’ve noticed those type of group invites with FBlink…too scary.
Since I can’t figure out how to tag a name on my iPhone, my time on FB has been less.
Want to see readers comments!
Thanks for the heads up Peter.