As rumours circulate about Facebook closing down, even more people could become nostalgic about their time on Facebook and fall foul to a scam that supposedly finds users’ first Facebook status updates.
Messages being posted to users’ Facebook walls say something like:
“My 1st St@tus was: “[random message]”. This was posted on [random date]. Find your 1st St@tus @ [LINK]”.
This status is not even the genuine first status the user posted to their account, nor the correct date they posted it on. If users click the link, they are taken to a scam Facebook application that asks the victim for permission to access their profile. This allows them to post messages to the victim’s wall, and potentially see personal information not visible to the public.
As a separate issue, Facebook has also apparently denied the rumour that the social networking site is closing down.
Take Facebook safety seriously
Action Fraud is reminding Facebook users that giving out access to their profiles could leave them open to fraud being committed against them.
If you’ve fallen victim to a scam like this, remove reference to it from your newsfeed, and go into your account’s privacy settings to delete any applications you’re not interested in.
Any scams on Facebook should be reported to Facebook directly; if you’ve lost money to an online scam, report it to Action Fraud.
Read more about the Facebook status scam on Sophos’ website.
Please note: Action Fraud is not responsible for the content on external websites.
To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.
