They have been around for a few days now . They are black and white profile pictures that Facebook users post under the slogan "Challenge accepted . " Nobody knows where this story came from, but there are many who contribute to it. In theory, what the user has to do is upload a black and white photo of himself . When someone “likes ” the photo, the owner of the snapshot in question writes the following message: “Hello. By liking my photo you have accepted the challenge. You will have to upload a photo of yourself in black and white. We are going to fill Facebook with photos against cancer ". Without a doubt we are faced with an absurd chain, which without eating or drinking it, has obtained thousands and thousands of acolytes who have dared to publish the famous photograph. What they don't know is that behind this seemingly supportive chain, there is a sophisticated data collection machine that cybercriminals will use to launch spam campaigns. Be very careful with them.
This type of scam is called Hoax . These are chains that seek to capture the user through messages that can touch their sensitive chord (diseases, humanitarian causes ...) or that encourage them to win the most succulent prizes: a mobile phone, a car ... This means that, although the user do not believe it, be encouraged to share it in case the flies. We would be facing scams along the lines of "if you do not share this, you will be left without service", "from now on Facebook will charge you a fee" or "I do not accept changes in the legal conditions of the social network". Logic and common sense tell us that we are facing real scam attempts, so the most sensible thing to do is stop sharing (please!) These types of messages and report themas many times as possible. We must not lose sight of the fact that Facebook is an ideal environment to spread this type of hoax and that those who are dedicated to online crime will not stop taking advantage of the occasion and the ignorance of the users to fulfill their mission.
If you frequent Facebook and other social networks and want to be aware of this type of hoax, we recommend that you take the following into account:
- Facebook will not charge you for the service. And if she ever did, don't worry, we'd find out from the news. You do not need to share these types of chains: they are absurd hoaxes that lead to nothing.
- The terms of service are what they are. When there is a change in the conditions of the service that is also controversial, the media also take care of collecting it. If the message is timeless and has no known author, it is most likely a fraudulent chain.
- They tend to attack the sensitive side. Most such messages play with the drama and fear, so we recommend wary of any string talk about cancer, fatal diseases, poverty, misery, payments, and so on . If there is any news or campaign you will always find out from official sources or proven organizations, never through anonymous messages.
If you pay attention to these tips and are cautious about what you post and share, you will save yourself more of an upset. If you participate in this, you will be putting your data on a tray to cybercriminals and you will run the risk of becoming a victim of a scam.