If you get an e-mail saying Facebook has reset your password due to security reasons and ask you to open or download an attachment to retrieve your password, then remember, it is a scam.
McAfee warns that several malicious programs including password stealer is installed when user clicks on it. The password stealer can potentially access any username and password combination used on the computer, not just the login credentials for the Facebook.
According to a report on Reuters, McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam across Europe, the United States and Asia since the campaign began on Tuesday.
Dave Marcus, McAfee’s director of malware research and communications, said that he expects the hackers will succeed in infecting millions of computers.
“With Facebook as your lure, you potentially have 400 million people that can click on the attachment. If you get 10 percent success, that’s 40 million,” he said.
There are obvious clues that this is just another phishing scam. McAfee explains, “Facebook would never send an email alerting a user that they changed his or her password. Another clue that can signal a user has received a spam email is the use of poor grammar and awkward phrases such as in the below greeting “Dear user of facebook.”
One can also see in the image that, a user normally doesn’t need to download any attachment to reset password as opposed to a .zip file that has been attached with the e-mail.
Dear readers, please be cautious of such scam mails and remember the reasoning given above, though not the only ways, to distinguish between scam and real e-mails in future. A little bit of keenness to details and precautions, especially with mails relating to sensitive data like passwords will ensure one’s safety.
[Image Source: McAfee]
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
lo gin my facebook