Today, AVG, makers of antivirus program LinkScanner, noticed a disturbing rash of nearly identical Facebook profiles aimed at infecting users’ computers with spyware.
AVG’s research chief Roger Thompson said that LinkScanner users had reported “rogue spyware attacks” from a large number of these profiles. He postulated that the fake profiles were created automatically, which would indicate that someone, somehow has figured out a way around the ReCaptchas used to protect Facebook from bot-created content.
“I’m sure Facebook will deactivate all these accounts as quickly as they find them, but it can’t be an easy thing for them to find.” he wrote.
Here are a few screenshots Thompson posted. Please note that all the fake profiles he reported showed the same main image:
According to statements made by Facebook spokesman Simon Axten to CNet, the link was reportedly blacklisted by web browsers and Facebook was blocking the URL. Interestingly,
Axten disagreed with Thompson’s assertion that the profiles were automated and the Captchas had been conpromised.
“We’re looking into how these accounts were created, but it’s very likely that the sign-up process was manual or that the person behind the attack farmed out the Captchas to be solved by humans for a price,” he said.
Facebook is working to shut down the profiles. Users are cautioned to keep their distance from any profile containing the image of the woman shown above.
