I've been seeing a lot of a new Facebook scam lately. It's the strangest one I've seen yet, because it comes veiled in a "friend request".
When someone makes a friend request in Facebook, they're basically asking you to share your personal information with them, as well as your status updates, your list of friends and other things you share only with friends. Some people are pretty promiscuous about who they'll accept a friend request from. But "friending" the wrong person could expose you to all sorts of unwanted messages, and even "phishing" via both Facebook and email that could get more personal information (like passwords and bank account access).
The scam I've been seeing lately involves a friend request from what appears to be a very attractive young woman. A quick check of "her" profile reveals only one status update—a link to a blog on LiveJournal, a social blogging site that just happens to be extremely popular in Russia these days, with a veiled promise of a free Apple iPhone 4. Follow the link (after a security warning from Facebook), and you're presented with an ad to click on to "win" a new iPhone.
The click, however, is a trap.
So, if you get a friend request out of the blue from a young woman you don't know, don't be flattered by this appeal for friendship, or think you have a secret admirer. It's a hacker hoping to become friendly with your personal data in ways you wouldn't like.
