Hoaxes and scams on Facebook: How most of them work and spread | Hacker News Reader

Hoaxes and scams on Facebook: How most of them work and spread

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57 pointsboni1140 comments

"Including one special case of scareware on Apple devices mistakenly displaying Google Play information on iPhone device :)"

This seems to be the same mode of operation as 419 scams. Bad grammar and implausible fake UI do a good job of filtering out those people who are more likely to know how to block the app and report it as spam after it is installed.

I don't see it here as the "filter": they don't have any advantage of being recognized as scam by some users. I estimate that these users capable of "reporting" them properly still aren't potentially dangerous enough for them to care.

Using bad grammar and obviously fake UIs is a pretty well-known technique that's been used by Internet scammers and phishers for years to filter out the savvier potential victims. It seems the motivation is not that smarter users will report them or try to stop them, but that those who are naive enough to miss the obvious signs of a scam are also far more likely to actually fall prey to the scam, to send larger sums of money, and to possibly fall victim to multiple scams. In essence, the bad grammar and fake UIs are used to make the scammers more efficient. They don't need to waste time on people who will get a few steps in, then cause them trouble or recognize the scam and back out; if you don't see the clear signs up front, you likely won't notice any of the later ones either. This is the same reason that the "Nigerian Prince" email scam still survives.

Here's a research paper published by Microsoft on this very subject back in 2012: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-...

Here's a decent summary on Yahoo: https://www.yahoo.com/news/study--obvious-nigerian-scam-emai...

Yes I know, I responded to parent's "Bad grammar and implausible fake UI do a good job of filtering out those people who are more likely to know how to block the app and report it as spam after it is installed."

What's up with that hero image? It seems to have zero relationship at all to the content. Is it just a case of "A/B testing shows women in bikini's on beaches drive a lot of clicks?"

At first I wondered what was up too, and noticed bad grammar throughout the entire page. Then I realized this isn't actually an official Facebook post, it's someone's blog post hosted on Facebook notes.

Oh I actually thought it was a official Facebook post, didn't know about Facebook notes.

I think the only reply to you guys should be wait for it....

But this is probably the most meta post you can have on the topic of "How scams and hoaxes are spread on Facebook? and video example" :)

With all the deep learning algorithms probably running on FB's servers, how come they cannot automatically detect these crude attempts at scamming their users? It seems they all follow certain patterns - keywords ("virus", "critical system error", etc.), a general alarmist tone, and a call for action below.

I'm just guessing but their's probably some cat and mouse involved. If facebook starts filtering one social engineering vector then they'll just shift to another one. It's like banning bots in various video games, you do it in random intervals in waves that obfuscate the exact cause and align nicely with the company's bottom line and PR efforts.

Because it doesnt make money and doesn't cost much to ignore?

It's really not much different from SPAM filtering and not as easy as you suggest.

> If you were a victim of this or similar scams, here is how you can remove these malicious apps from your Facebook account.

That was disappointing. I hoped the article would end with "here's how we've figured out how to detect and block these malicious apps automatically".

Facebook will auto block malicious apps once it's detected. This article is written by a researcher and not affiliated with Facebook.

So, along with normal O/S level anti virus software, will we now start to see companies coming up with sentinel software plugins on social media which will keep tracking malicious apps on FB etc. and hide them from view in real time?

I am assuming products like FB Purity etc. tend to remove ALL extraneous posts from your feed, but I am thinking someone might come up with one that can do a real time filter either based on the source app, or else a grammar check of the post text?

Isn't it interesting how all these gardens have been walled up with the (stated) purpose of providing a safe place, without the perils of viruses and malware that supposedly thrive on more open platforms.

Yeah, it's almost as if malicious activity follows users, and there's no perfect security.

Grammar level: How is babby formed?

In this case: "How babby is formed?" which toddlers don't even manage to garble up.

TBH, this seems to be a characteristic of EFL, so I'm guessing this was from a non-English speaker.

Sorry for grammar and all the mistakes I have made, I am not native English speaker.

I presumed they were talking about the scams, rather than your article.

The title could be expanded by "are spread on the Facebook Network", since websites, containing Facebook scripts, also scatter these phishing attacks. I downloaded and reviewed several of them. Their code is at most mediocre but they contain several surprises which I summarize at the moment.

What's certain is that Facebook always benefits from these scams (earnings via ad impressions).

Facebook itself!

Of course, as it's not directed to the technical people but to the users of the Facebook that don't understand most of the technical details.

can't see the videos... is it just a link to install Facebook apps in your account or does clicking the hoax link already install the app because Facebook screwed up and forgot crumbs and such?

An article about Facebook scams and hoaxes which appears ... on Facebook.

Why not? At least you don't have to log in to read it.

My 70 year old uncle was almost scammed this way, but he doesn't keep anything of value on his one computer, and when the scammer started to ask for SSN and other info he figured out that he was being scammed, cut the guy off, and cleared his computer. He's aware that he's not great with computers, but he there's nothing wrong with his mind, or his common sense.

I think sometimes the training needs to be, "Beloved friend/relative, it's inevitable that you're going to get got, but you can insure that when you are, it won't matter."

I didn't read the article. I do have an honest question. This is probally not the time to take a half ass survey, but here goes:

To Facebook members; what exactly have you gotten out of the site. This question is mainly geared towards Americans. I know in some countries FB is your only way to get onto any Internet--FB version of the Internet, but it's free--kind of--ads are not free.

So these questions are really directed towards U.S. Citizens; did you make any physical friends by being on FB? Did you get any job offers? Did you get that invite to the party? And the most important question, did you meet that special someone you only would have meet through the social elite site of FB?

I know a lot of you keep in touch with friends/family, and they have news feed, and that's a given, and wonderful--I guess?

I'm asking these questions because I am really not in FB demographics, and really want to know. I know this will not be a balanced review of Facbook. I just didn't think FB would still be growing in America at this date. I actually shocked we are still talking about it. I know a handful of people who deactivated, but not the numbers I was expecting.

(If offended, or feel this post is off topic-- I will remove it, and you have my apologies. And yes--I know they are buying up competition.)

It helpes to stay in contact with not so close friends. For example people I met on a trip in canada. It makes me happy to see their vacation pictures which I wouldn't see usually because we are not that close.

To answer one of your questions (not a U.S. citizen but I think the FB situation is pretty much the same in my country) - yes, I did get that invite to the party which I wouldn't have gotten without FB. It's also good for chatting and staying in touch in general, there is no other platform in my sphere that comes close in terms of number of my friends available.

How many friends, both close and casual, do you have? How many family members? For me, that number is around 150. Facebook enables me to ping them occasionally, or just passively stay in touch with their lives, where maintaining that many face to face friends is not practical.

(Early 20s, UK Citizen & Resident) Yes, some physical friends have been met though FB but mostly it's been hugely instrumental in developing existing relationships (99% by messaging). No job offers but I have personally provided job opportunities through it. The last 5 social events I've been to (party, festivals) have been arranged through group messaging on FB's Messenger.

Facebook helps a lot to stay in touch with people you meet while travelling, ex-colleagues, or people you just occasionally meet in general and that you don't have the phone number of.

It's not as good as Chinese wechat though, because it's really spammy: you click on like, everyone can see. On wechat you only see photos, likes, comments, from your direct friends. It is much more private. Once you've tried it, it's kind of hard to put up with the very public nature of Facebook, I find.

People use what they got. Most businesses accept American Express. So people carry it in their wallets. Network effect. Facebook is a good meeting point. Its hard to be pedantic on things that literally will kill minor relationships.

Well, there's an opportunity. Five years ago, everyone in China used to use qq, which is kind of like Chinese Facebook: everything public. Then wechat came out, and now I never use qq any more, I mean, noone does.

Both qq and wechat are owned by tencent.

They are. Not sure that changes my point much? The user database/registration are entirely separate. There is no lockin being circumvented by virtue of both being tencent.

Out of interest, what demographic are you? Unless you are under 13, it is difficult to imagine you aren't in a fairly active FB demographic.

Also, what is "did you meet that special someone you only would have meet through the social elite site of FB" supposed to mean. I'm assuming the "meet someone special" means some kind of romantic relation, but what "social elite" is FB supposed to have?

(To answer the questions, though:

1) Lots of things. It's the primary messaging platform that everyone is on, It's a good way to see photos of people I know, there are lots of very active and interesting technical FB groups I follow.

> did you make any physical friends by being on FB?

Yes, quite a number.

> Did you get any job offers?

Yes. Have had more via LinkedIn, but FB is more consulting-type work.

> Did you get that invite to the party?

Yes (not sure which one, but plenty of events I go to are organised on FB and I was invited via FB and wouldn't have if not for it)

(Not in the US, but from a rich "western" country. Male, > 35 yo.)

I just didn't think FB would still be growing in America at this date. I actually shocked we are still talking about it. I know a handful of people who deactivated, but not the numbers I was expecting.

Why on earth not? Surely we are all past the idea that FB is a fashion thing? And due to the birth rate, plenty of new people will keep joining, and I doubt they are hit the demographic where they need to actively worry about the death rate in high numbers yet.

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