Facebook scam offers the web site in different colours

THE SOCIAL NETWORK Facebook has been hit by a scam tempting users to change the colour of the web site.

The scam involves inviting users to change the colour of their Facebook to pink, red or black for a limited time only. A link within the post then prompts the user to take various steps to gain the colour change.

First the link must be shared with friends on Facebook, an indication something is wrong because the change hasn't even occurred at this point. Users are also asked to leave a comment, a clever way of making the scam look legitimate. Notably, Facebook is still blue at this point.

The eventual result is an external survey that must be completed in return for the makeover. It's unsurprising that there is financial gain behind the scam.

Graham Cluley said on a Sophos blog, "Predictably, the point of all of this sharing is to drive more traffic to the scammers' link where an online survey will pop-up. The more people who take the survey, the more commission that the scammers will earn."

In response a spokesman for Facebook said, "Facebook takes the security of the people who use the site incredibly seriously, and constantly develops ways to keep people safe and secure. We're always working to identify the next cyber threat and build defences for it. Cybercriminals and spammers are a threat across the whole of the web, and we encourage people to find out how they can stay protected by liking the Facebook Security page or visiting our Help Centre."

Cluley points out that it's not out of the question to change the colour of Facebook, which can be done with things like a Greasemonkey script. Web sites such as Ebay and Gmail can also be changed easily.

It was discovered earlier this month that hackers managed to steal more than 45,000 Facebook login details using a malware worm called Ramnit. µ