Facebook scammers invite millions to bogus event

Issued by Me Talk Pretty for Sophos South Africa

Johannesburg, 05 Apr 2011

One event called: "Who blocked you from his friend list?” has already tricked more than 165 000 people into signing up, with a staggering 10.3 million users still debating whether to respond or not.

The scammers embed instructions into the "More info" section of the event's summary, which leads unsuspecting Facebook users into visiting Web pages for online surveys or competitions, designed to earn commission for those behind the scheme. In some instances, users are also asked for a mobile phone number - which is then signed up to an expensive premium rate service.

"Spammed-out event invitations and links to survey scams are some of the biggest nuisances on Facebook, and have an impact on millions of users every day," says Brett Myroff, CEO of regional Sophos distributor, Sophos South Africa. "It would be great if Facebook was being more proactive in shutting down these obviously bogus events. Currently, it's far too easy for scammers to fill their pockets through schemes such as these."

Facebook users are reminded never to accept unsolicited invitations from suspicious events, and always think twice about clicking on links received via Facebook.

Sophos South Africa

NetXactics, trading as Sophos South Africa, is a South African-based company focused on the provision of security solutions. It is the master distributor for UK-based Sophos, one of the leaders in the provision of network access control and endpoint, e-mail and Web security and control solutions for the corporate environment. For more information, visit Sophos South Africa at www.sophos.co.za.

Sophos

Sophos enables enterprises worldwide to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Our network access control, endpoint, Web and e-mail solutions simplify security to provide integrated defences against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, we protect over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with our reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognised for our high level of customer satisfaction, we have an enviable history of industry awards, reviews and certifications. Sophos is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Oxford, UK.

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