Fake Facebook 'Add Friends' E-Mail Adds Malware
Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace give scam artists and virus writers new ways to package tried-but-true tricks. The latest example of this making the rounds is an e-mail that appears to be an invitation from Facebook to add a friend: A recipient who opens an attached image to take a look at their new friend instead opens the door for hackers to compromise his PC.
Internet security firm Websense warns about this latest scam, which takes advantage of common notifiers sent by Facebook to alert users when another user adds them as a friend on their social network.
The message also includes a login form to the Facebook home page. While there are countless examples of scam e-mails that try to steal Facebook usernames and passwords using a fake login page, any credentials entered into the form are sent directly to Facebook, logging the user into his or her actual page. Websense says this is probably a ruse to make the message appear more authentic, but in reality the scammers could have easily intercepted those credentials as well.
