We’ve bumped into a number of Facebook scams over the years, but applying colorful layouts on profiles is probably not very hard to dodge for most people. But there will still be some among us who fall for the bait. And why blame them? The Menlo Park-based social network giant could brighten up its website with a few shades of pink, or maybe red.
Options to change profile layouts to attractive shades have made their rounds on other social websites as well. Take Orkut for instance. However, there are a few mobile-optimized apps that do offer such customization features. The guys over at Naked Security have recorded a number of users complaining about this problem. And based on their findings, apps that advertise things like ‘Say goodbye to the boring blue profile and say hello to the pink profile,’ are nothing more than easy ways for scammers to earn a few bucks at members’ expense.
Most ‘Facebookers’ have probably come across such ploys at some point of time or the other. And if not, here’s how they go about – to start things off, these apps basically ask users to share the link with others through their profiles. And once that’s done, the page is likely to get redirected to an external website with no indication of the social network’s authentication. Most of the time, these scams end up with members filling in survey forms, the convenient way for tricksters to make easy money. And it’s very often the temptation of customization options that encourage users to move forward.
Whether scam or not, it’s better being safe than sorry. So here’s a little hint – if Facebook rolls out new updates or features, there always an appropriate introduction to it. Take the recently launched Listen With button for instance. Offerings like this mostly come well integrated into the website and not through a shared link on an account holder’s wall.