Your FACEBOOK account is not SAFE – Facebook is HACKED again

So, here we are again. It’s been about a week now and I have been receiving strange notifications about being tagged in several Facebook posts. Initially, just like everyone else, I completely ignored the first few ones, removed myself from the tags and went about doing my usual stuff, until now. Facebook has been hacked again, and here’s how to stay safe.

So, if you’ve seen my video concerning scam messages and why you shouldn’t forward them, you would realize that some websites are so toxic that they will practically take everything from you. If you haven’t, here’s your chance to see it, up here or down in the description below.

These new tags from friends and links that supposedly will show you nude and/or sexual content is what is popping up on Facebook now. Unfortunately, this has been in existence for quite a long time but apparently, we, as in myself and the people I know so far are experiencing it for the first time.

How does this work?

Victims get Facebook notifications that a friend or someone close to them has tagged them in a post. It appears to be a link to an “adult video” or some “Lurking means to earn money digitally”, and users find that dozen other friends are also tagged in the same post. Users never realize that it is a scam post and since it is tagged by someone they know, the user assumes that it must be safe.

But, as the user clicks the link, a pop-up window appears. It says that you need to download a Flash player update before you can watch the video or suggests you do some activities or download some media in order to know the details.

Instead of it being the link you assumed, the malware is designed for identity theft by scanning for personal and banking information, the malware also perpetuates the scam. It takes over your Facebook account, creates another fake post and automatically tags a bunch of your friends. This is how the malware is being spread. Some have even reported that they have been asked to pay money in order to deactivate the malware.

How To Protect Yourself?

Here are a few things you can do in order to protect yourself and your circle from being a victim of such attacks:

Before you even click on a link, always review the domain and do not download extensions without understanding its privacy policy.

As soon you see such a notification of you and a bunch of people being tagged in a post, simply remove yourself from the tag.

Report the post as a Scam.

Stay away from promotions of “exclusive,” “shocking”, “sensational”, “easy way to earn money in a day” or similar kinds of posts. If it sounds too outlandish to be accurate, it is probably a scam. You will never earn any money in a day instead; the malware will cause you a great loss of money.

Don’t assume that everything your friend posts on social media is true and safe. You can’t be sure that your friend has fallen a victim to a such scam or that his/ her system hasn’t been hacked.

Make people around you aware of the malware and the “tagging virus” and make sure they don’t click on such links before analyzing it.

Mind you Facebook isn’t the only place. I have been contacted by random girls on Instagram too, enticing me to see more of them by following some links they share. Once you click on the link, you’re greeted with ENTER YOUR CARD DETAILS TO VIEW EXCLUSIVE CONTENTS. Like how?

A similar thing happens on Facebook messenger, where a girl sends me a link and asks me to vote for her to win in an upcoming event. Once, I opened up the link, I was directed to a homepage on a website which looks exactly like the FACEBOOK HOMEPAGE. And funny enough, whatever email address and password you enter, would be denied. You, may think the link is damaged or not working, but unfortunately, you would have already entered your Facebook Login details to an unsecured website.

As you can clearly see right here, none of the links these supposed posts and tags on Facebook were leading me to was related to what the thumbnail showed.