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Last updated: 18th August 2010
First published: 18th August 2010
Article written by Brett M. Christensen About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer
Analysis
Facebook users are once again under attack from scammers. This time, users are being enticed to spam their friends, install intrusive toolbars, fill in scam surveys, and hand over personal information via the promise of a "Dislike Button" for their Facebook account. Messages such as the one shown below are currently being posted all over Facebook:
If users click the link in one of these message, they are taken to a page like the one shown in the following screenshot:
Once they click the "Like" button, users are then invited to "Share" the page with their Facebook friends:
Next, users are taken to a non-Facebook page where they are instructed to click one of several links, ostensibly as a "Security Check":
The links in this bogus "Security Check" lead to several dubious sites that entice users to either provide personal information supposedly in order to participate in an "online survey" or download and install an intrusive and annoying toolbar for their browsers. During testing, I found that even after completing the survey or downloading the toolbar, I still did not receive the promised "Dislike Button". The "Security Check" never completed, even after several attempts:
The scam outlined above is just one of a number of "Dislike Button" scams that are currently targeting Facebook users. In other versions, users who click the "Dislike Button" link are then enticed to install a rogue Facebook app that will automatically update their facebook status to further promote the bogus dislike button. Users are then taken to bogus survey sites that are designed to collect personal information or trick users into signing up for expensive "services" such as SMS tip lines.
In some case, the users are eventually taken to a site that offers a browser add-on that does actually provide a Facebook Dislike Button. However, these scammers are simply using this add-on as the bait in their nefarious schemes without the permission of its creators. The add-on itself appears to be legitimate and is apparently unconnected to the scams described here.
Facebook users should be wary of any posts offering a "Dislike Button", even if the message claims that the button is "official". At this time, there is no official dislike button offered by Facebook. The above mentioned browser add-on dislike button can be downloaded directly from the Facemod website without the need to install Facebook applications, "like" or "share" Facebook pages, fill in scam surveys or download toolbars.
