Facebook Messenger Users Targeted by Video-Based Phishing Scam

The technique is very simple and consists of sending corrupted links to steal the victims’ data through videos containing various malware. According to Facebook’s security team, the scam starts with a video that is sent to the victim: "Is that you in this video?", the scammers launch in a messaging that should alert as soon as it is received, since it is a corrupted link, the purpose of which is to steal the personal data of inattentive users, warns Facebook.

According to the security team, this video scam technique is not the first attempt of its kind on the instant messaging service. The difference is that this approach stands out a bit from other initiatives. Indeed, it mainly plays on the sharing of links from hacked accounts, which then proceed to spread the corrupted message to all contacts. Thus, seeing a friend send a link with the magic phrase, some curious people decide to click on the corrupted link, without suspecting anything, it is explained.

The team calls for vigilance from Internet users, because once the click is launched, the hackers can have access to the terminal of their victims, inviting them to download a corrupted program "necessary" for the playback of the said video. As soon as it is installed, the malware reveals the password and Facebook and Messenger login credentials of the victims, and then proceeds to spread to the contacts.

To secure user data, an alert has been put in place to invite users to avoid clicking on links that appear to be corrupted, even from close sources, in order to avoid having their data stolen. As for the victims, they are invited to immediately change their identifiers and passwords in case of infection.