Enough is enough! I decided to write on the topic of Facebook spam because I was brutally bombarded by one particular type of spam today thanks to gullible friends who clicked a link that their “friend” posted on their wall. Here’s a screenshot of the newest spam to hit Facebook.
I was spammed with this by at least four different people today on my Facebook wall. Note that in this particular instance the compromised friend’s account was not only posting this on everyone’s wall but was also writing their name. So your spam just got personal! Now as soon as you click the link, it sets off a chain reaction..compromising your own account and spamming the Facebook wall of all your friends.
A blog post on this was therefore highly required. Please read below:
5 Steps to avoid Facebook Spam
- Recognise the language: If you notice closely all Facebook spam links have something in common – all of them use sensational language to make us click the stuff. You know, like Fox news…So if you’re one of those gullible people who love clicking, please put this filter in your head. Sensational language may equal SPAM.
- Check your Facebook news feed: In 90% of the cases of Facebook spam. your friend’s compromised account will automatically be posting the spam post or link on the wall of everyone in their friend list. You will be able to see that your friend posted the same link to your mutual friends. Mark that activity as suspicious…another spam filter for your head.
- Hover the mouse: In many cases, you will apply the filter in step 1 and 2 and delete that spammy post from your wall or mark it as spam. If you are still tempted to check that link and think that its genuine, just hover the mouse pointer on that link. In most cases, you will be able to see the exact URL where the link will take you in the browser’s status bar. For example, if it’s a shared from Lughole.net, you will be able to see the full URL of the story e.g. lughole.net/internet/5-steps-to-avoid-facebook-spam. If the link looks shady, do not click! Just go to the next step…Also, if you don’t see the URL in your browser’s status bar on hovering the link, it means its been hidden by a JavaScript and it’s definitely spam!
- Mark as SPAM: Yes. Whether it’s after Step 1, 2 or 3 when you come to the conclusion that its a spam which has been posted on your wall, you should click the hidden cross button which will come towards the top right corner of that post/link when you hover your mouse pointer there, and then hit “mark as spam.” It will be automatically deleted from your wall. Its better than simply deleting it because you’re notifying the Facebook team of the latest spam. The sooner they filter it out the lesser the number of accounts that will be compromised.
- Let them know: If you notice that a friend’s account is sending out spam to everyone’s wall (as in step 3), there’s a chance they are not online at the moment and they don’t know. In such a case call up him or her and tell them that their account has been compromised and they better put up a status asking friends not to click on the link…because its spam.
There you have it. So if you are pissed from all the spam on your Facebook wall just because your friends are gullible enough to click anything and everything, share this post on their wall. They will love you for it.
