Facebook Inc. (FB): ‘Black’ Scam Spreading – Google Inc. (GOOG), Symantec Corporation (SYMC), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has been facing a lot of scrutiny for its transparency due to safety, security and privacy concerns involving the data that is being compiled, the information and photos that are shared among the social network’s one billion users. But what about a scam that is spreading about Facebook that doesn’t even involve Facebook? Such a scam is drawing warnings from Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC), protective efforts from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and is being run off a server from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Did you get all that?

This latest scam that at least uses the popular name of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is gaining momentum through e-mails and on the web, and it surrounds an invitation for recipients to “experience Facebook Black.” This “experience” actually becomes a series of surveys which collects data on the recipients.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) users are tagged in a photo which links to an external site that attempts to get victims to install a Chrome browser extension, which is phony. Once installed, the scammers then exploit the user’s information to create a phony Facebook page and iFrame that connects the victim to a malicious website. Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) has issued a warning to Facebook users, adding that it seems that the campaign is originating from an Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) S3 cloud storage service. And because the Chrome browser is being targeted with this phony extension, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has stepped in to protect users.

“Ultimately, users that install this Facebook extension will be presented with a set of survey scams, which is how the scammers monetize these types of campaigns,” wrote Satnam Narang, a researcher at Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). “Google has already removed several of these Chrome extensions and continues to improve their automated detections for malicious extensions.”

Have you seen this scam, or know anyone who has? What do you think about this scam that uses Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) to get users’ attention? Give us your thoughts about this in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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