Facebook death notices: How to spot phishing attacks hitting social media users
Greg GiesenIt's phishing season.
That's not a typo or play on words, hackers are on the prey using various tools – including emotional pleas on social media – to gain access to your personal information or at the very least your contacts.
Among the the latest scams is a Facebook post asking people "Look who died?" or "I can't believe you're gone. May you R.I.P" A clicked link to a Facebook login page and two fields filled out and a hacker has access to your Facebook page. Now, you have a bigger issue.
The best defense to this scam is not clicking the link. But how do you know what's phishing and what's real? Here's some help.
What is phishing?
According to Facebook, phishing is when someone tries to get access to your accounts by sending a suspicious message or link that asks for your personal information. If they get into your account, they may use your account to send spam.
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How to identify phishing attempts
According to Cofense Email Security, there are nine key signs in spotting phishing emails:
- An unfamiliar tone or greeting
- Grammar and spelling errors
- Inconsistent email addresses, links and domain names
- threats or a sense of urgency
- Suspicious attachments
- Unusual requests
- A short and sweet email
- The person receiving the email didn't initiate the conversation
- Request for personal data
However, it's a little different to spot phishing on Facebook. The social media site gives these tells to spot phishing on Facebook.
- Don't trust messages that demand money, offer gifts or threaten to delete or ban your account.
- Don't click suspicious or mysterious links
- Don't respond to requests for personal information like credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or passwords.
Facebook also suggests receiving alerts about unrecognized logins and using two-factor authentication. The social media site also pointed out that emails regarding your account will only come from these addresses:
- fb.com
- facebook.com
- facebookmail.com
What to do if you've been phished on Facebook
According to Facebook here's what you should do if you're a victim of phishing.
- If you can log into your account, reset your password, and log out of all devices you are not familiar with.
- If you notice strange activity, review recent activity and check recent emails sent by Facebook
If you cannot log into your account, you can recover it, by doing the following:
- Use a mobile phone or computer that you've used to access Facebook.
- Go to the Find Your Account page at facebook.com/login/identify and follow the instructions.
- Search for the account you wish to recover. You can search by name, email address or phone number
- follow the on-screen steps to reset your password.