Warning out vs 'birthday shirt' scam targeting Facebook users

Facebook users, beware: a supposed offer for a free T-shirt celebrating the social networking giant’s birthday is nothing but a scam, a computer security firm warned Friday (Manila time). Computer security firm Sophos said the T-shirt lure is the latest attempt by cybercriminals to steal the secret backdoor key to Facebook users’ accounts. “The offer seems attractive enough – a webpage claiming to celebrate Facebook’s 7th birthday, saying that it has over 1.9 million official T-shirts in stock. All you have to do is verify that you are a Facebook user, claims the following webpage. And this is where things get very sneaky," it said in a blog post. It said the webpage tells the prospective victim to visit Facebook Mobile, where a supposed personalized email address allows him or her to post status updates or upload photos and videos straight to his or her profile. The parties behind the scam would then ask for a “secret" Facebook email address to verify the prospective victim is a legitimate Facebook user. The address allows a Facebook user to upload content to his or her account. “Good luck, by the way, on that T-shirt. My hunch is that you won’t ever receive one. But the scammers now have the ability to post to your Facebook page and upload pictures to your account, and you have helped them earn some money in the process," Sophos said. It said those hit by the scam should refresh their Facebook mobile upload email address so the scammers cannot use it as a secret backdoor into their accounts. “If you don’t change your mobile email address on Facebook, you’re just asking for trouble. In the past, Facebook pages such as that belonging to the Van Gogh Museum have been hit by scammers who abused the mobile upload feature," it added. — LBG, GMA News