People should beware of status updates and messages from Facebook friends offering free iPhone 4s, says Sophos.
The messages, which have been prominent since Sunday, invite users to click on links and sign up to “receive a free iPhone”. However, Sophos warns that even though the invitations may appear to be from a friend, they are actually sent by rogue applications that users have allowed to access their profiles and post on their Facebook walls.
“Just because something appears on a friend's wall doesn't mean that it is from a reliable source. By giving unknown applications access to your Facebook page, you could unknowingly continue to help spread scams and earn cash for the spammers," says Sophos SA CEO, Brett Myroff.
If a user clicks on the links in the messages, they are asked to give an application permission to access their basic information and post to their walls. They are then directed to a page which, according to Sophos, will earn commission for the spammers behind the scam.
Facebook updates reading: "Just testing Facebook for iPhone out :P Received my free iPhone today, so
happy lol... If anyone else wants one go here: <LINK>" and "Anyone want my old phone? Claimed my free iPhone today, so happy lol... If anyone else wants one go here: <LINK>" are sent out to entice users but can be dangerous.
Myroff says this threat comes as part of a greater trend towards using Facebook and other social media in scams. He adds that Sophos has seen an increase in this particular kind of scam in the past few months.
"Users shouldn't hold their breath waiting for a new iPhone but need to learn to think before they 'like' and 'share' suspicious pages on Facebook,” he says.
Sophos suggests that users who have clicked on the links and allowed these third-party applications to access their information should delete references to the free iPhone scam from their wall, and remove the offending application from their account by going to 'Account', and then 'Application Settings'.
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