Valentine’s Day scams spread virally on Facebook

With Valentine’s Day approaching on February 14th, scammers on Facebook are ramping up their efforts to take advantage of the traditional day of love to make a quick buck out of unsuspecting users.

Facebook users are being tricked into clicking on messages that they believe their online friends have posted, saying who their Valentine will be in 2011 or how to put a heart or love poem on their sweetheart’s wall.

Is there a girl/boy you really like? why not show him/her via Facebook! give him/her a Love Poem and a Love Heart straight to his/her wall! Get Started Here: [LINK]

My Valentine this 2011 is going to be [NAME] :) See yours now! [LINK]/valentine

My Valentine date this 2011 is going to be [NAME]! Learn who yours will be now- [LINK]

Sophos has identified rogue Facebook applications with names such as Valentine’s Day and Special Valentine which are responsible for 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 •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus 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 security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.