Probably Wont See the Likes of That Happening Again
Facebook has inverse the way people do a lot of things online. For example, you lot probably notice yourself reflexively clicking "like" on anything your friends post on Facebook, even if information technology'south only to acknowledge you saw it. Scammers are taking advantage of that reflex for a dangerous scam called "like-farming."
What is like-farming?
Similar-farming is when scammers post an attention-grabbing story on Facebook for the limited purpose of cultivating likes and shares. Based on the way Facebook works, the more likes and shares a postal service has, the more than likely it is to show upwards in people's News Feeds.
This gives the scammer more than eyeballs for posts that trick people out of information or ship them to malicious downloads. The large question, of grade, is why Facebook doesn't end these posts before they get also big. And that'southward where the real scam comes in.
How the scam works
Scammers accept found a elementary way to fly nether the radar during the early phases of their performance. The story they originally mail to Facebook has zero dangerous about information technology. Information technology's merely a regular story that anyone might mail service. That was the warning from one local Better Business Agency terminal year.
Only later on the post gets a certain number of likes and shares does the scammer edit information technology and add something malicious. They might get-go promoting products or sell the page information in an attempt to get credit bill of fare data. In fact, if yous go back through your history of liked posts, you might observe that some of them have changed to something you wouldn't accept liked in a million years. By the mode, if yous're not sure how to review your likes, click here for the step-by-step instructions.
So, what kinds of stories exercise scammers kickoff with to pull a fast one on people into liking and sharing?
Q&A: Avoid a big tech rip-off
Posts that should give you pause
One popular blazon of story is the emotional 1. You've definitely seen the posts showing rescue animals and asking you to like if you think they're cute. Or maybe it's a medical story where you're asked to like that the person was cured or to let them know they're notwithstanding beautiful after surgery.
There are as well the posts that ask for a like to show that you're against something the regime is doing, or that you disagree with something terrible happening in the globe. Or maybe it's the ones that say "If I get X number of likes, and so something amazing will happen for me" or "I was challenged to become 10 number of likes."
Basically, any post that asks you lot to like it for emotional reasons, unless you know the person who created the original post, is quite probably a like-farm post. Of course, emotional posts aren't the only types of mail service you need to watch for.
Other types of scam posts to avoid
In that location are a lot of scams on Facebook and nigh of them tin be used for like-farming. A pop one, for example, is a post that asks you to similar or share then you tin win something absurd. These pop up most often when Apple launches a new iPhone or iPad.
You might take seen recently during the huge Powerball frenzy people posting on Facebook saying anyone who likes their post volition go a share of their winnings. How real practice you lot think those were?
Just on Thursday, police in Commonwealth of australia warned Facebook users of a like-farming scam that attempted to lure customers of Qantas Airlines.
Thousands autumn for Qantas splendid ticket hoax. Here'southward how to never be one of them
What virtually brain-teaser posts, such as the ones that have yous like or share if you can read the words backwards or solve a tricky math problem? Yes, those are ofttimes similar-farm posts, too.
It isn't just posts either; it tin can too exist pages. A scammer might set a folio for "I love puppies" or what appears to be a worthy company or organization. It puts up enough content to become a lot of likes, and then switches the content to spam and scams. Once you've liked the page, everything new the scammers put upward goes on your News Feed and, in some cases, your friends' feeds equally well.
How to avoid like-farming
Your best bet to avoid like-farming is to be very judicious about what yous similar and share on Facebook. Don't simply reflexively click "like" on everything. Have a look at where the mail service is coming from. If information technology'south from someone y'all don't recognize, it could exist a friend of a friend or it could exist a complete stranger. Information technology would exist skilful to find out.
Detect the content and whether it promises anything for liking or sharing. If information technology does, information technology'southward a good clue that it's a scam of some kind. The same goes if yous feel pushed or pressured into clicking like or share. Click hither for 5 Facebook scams that continue to spread like wildfire.
Don't forget that, in the end, minimizing your likes is more than just a good security measure out. It also reduces the clutter in your friends' news feeds, and their clutter in yours, so you lot tin can all spend more fourth dimension seeing the really important posts. That's a win-win for everyone.
On the Kim Komando Bear witness, the nation's largest weekend radio talk testify, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today'south digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, complimentary newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com. E-mail her at techcomments@usatoday.com.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2016/03/04/dont-click-like-facebook-again-until-you-read/81264440/
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