Facebook stalkers and profile creeps – rogue apps spread virally

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
@
@[email protected]
@gcluley

Many Facebook users have contacted the Naked Security team this weekend, reporting that they have fallen victim to a fast-spreading scam that claims you can find out who is stalking you on Facebook and viewing your profile.

Judging by the number of messages posted on the site, the scam spread hard and fast affecting many users. And although Facebook’s security team appears to have been mopping up the mess, and removing the rogue applications and messages, there’s always the chance that it will resurge in a slight different form before too long.

One of the most commonly seen scam messages read:

I just saw who STALKS me on Facebook! You can see who creeps around your profile too! [LINK]

Clicking on the link would take you to a rogue application, that claimed it would tell you who was viewing your Facebook page.

If you approved the subsequent request for the application to be able to access your profile, your own Facebook account would publish the…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

Found this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter or Mastodon to read more of the exclusive content we post.


Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

What do you think? Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.