World's largest social networking site in terms of users, Facebook has intensified its fight against cyber criminals who hoodwink users out of their had-earned money by suo motu shutting down suspicious of fake accounts.
According to Facebook, its security team has noticed an increase in number of complaints from users that their login information is collected through phishing sites and then their Facebook accounts are secretly accessed to ask family and friends of the user for money.
Though the total number of people who have fallen victim to such scam are still small, Facebook is taking the threat seriously and is "redoubling...efforts to combat the scam," Alok Menghrajani, a software engineer at Facebook, said at a blog posting.
However, such incidences of crime, Menghrajani said, are not just unique to Facebook and the cyber criminals will try and access anything including email accounts, blogs etc of the user and then try to fool people close to the user into parting with their money.
The attacks, known as 419 scams or Nigerian scams, involve a fraudster, after accessing email, blog or social networking account and posing as the account owner, claiming to be stranded in a foreign country without access to money and they use all means, including email and chat system to plead with people close to the user to send them money through transfer services such as Western Union.
According to Menghrajani, such scams have been commonplace for years, but the cyber criminals are now increasing their focus on towards hugely popular social networking sites, such as Facebook, which has more than 300 million users, in order to cultivate a more direct, personal link with potential victims.
To curb this menace, Facebook is calling upon its users to "educate themselves" about online scams, and report any strange or suspicious profiles and activities.
It has also urged its users to check out the Facebook security page for tips on how to avoid being conned. The page is located at Facebook also from time to time is examining the accounts of its users, which it feels is fake or suspicious and is suspending them till the affected users convince it otherwise.
"We have improved a number of our automated systems to better handle this unique class of scam and are taking efforts to ensure that we adapt our response to the scam as it changes," Menghrajani said. "At the same time, our security team is working with law enforcement and collaborating with email providers and other industry experts to identify and catch the criminals responsible.
However, Facebook needs the cooperation of the users in its fight against the cyber criminals and Menghrajani has advised users not to click on any web links of accounts which look suspicious as clicking on such web links download malware on to the computers of unsuspecting users, leaving them vulnerable to remote hacking by cyber criminals.
Facebook's crusade against cyber criminals come amid warnings by anti-virus makers that a rising number of bogus profiles were being used lately to try and tempt the social network's users into downloading viruses.
According to Roger Thompson, chief research officer with antivirus company AVG Labs, Facebook is being flooded with a large number of fake accounts lately that come with a request to download a video. If unsuspecting users clicked on the link, it downloaded a piece of malicious software to their computer.
"Clearly, the data snatchers have found a way to automate the creation of Facebook accounts," Thompson said. "I'm sure Facebook will deactivate all these accounts as quickly as they find them, but it can't be an easy thing for them to find."
Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also issued an advisory, warning web surfers and users of social networking sites such as Facebook to take precautions against the cyber criminals.
These criminals, FBI warned, after hijacking someone's account will "change the user's passwords and eventually send out distress messages claiming they are in some sort of legal or medical peril and requesting money from their social-networking contacts."
Though the social networking sites continue to rise in popularity due to the numerous conveniences and opportunities it provides, they also provide phishers with a lot more bait than they used to have, the agency warned.