Quoted: Do you 'Like' to get scammed on Facebook?
'I think their common sense tells them it's not true, but in the back of their minds, they think 'What if it is true? What does it hurt if I press like?' '
- Tim Senft, founder of Facecrooks.com, a site that monitors scams and other illegal behavior on Facebook. Among other things, scammers tug at heartstrings to get the social network's users to click the thumbs-up Like icon. CNN reports that in one instance, Facebookers were urged to like a photo of a girl with cancer to show their support. The photo was several years old, had never even been posted to Facebook, and was used without the girl's parents' permission. Why would scammers do this? Usually it's to collect enough likes to eventually turn the page into a vehicle for promoting something else - something they can make money from. In some cases, Senft said, those pages can spread malware or engage in phishing to gather personal information about those who did nothing but click at the seemingly harmless Like button. As for the photo of the girl with cancer, it was deleted by Facebook but continues to pop up online, the girl's mother told CNN.
In other news about Likes, Facebook was recently sued by a man who says the social network falsely claimed he liked USA Today.
Levi Sumagaysay ( 3364 Posts)
Levi Sumagaysay is editor of the combined SiliconBeat and Good Morning Silicon Valley. She also blogs and is the online producer for SiliconValley.com, the Mercury News tech website. Email: lsumagaysay (at) bayareanewsgroup (dot-com).
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