Scammers are taking advantage of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement to add a "dislike" option to reportedly trick users into handing over money, having malicious code downloaded to their computers and liking pages.
Various security blogs report that there has been an influx of ads promoting early access to a Facebook dislike button since Zuckerberg revealed the company is responding to requests for a "dislike" option by allowing users to express empathy in an easy way, according to Business Insider.
Despite him insisting that the option wouldn't be advisable because it could encourage a Reddit-style system of upvoting and downvoting, many have taken Zuckerberg's announcement to mean that Facebook is literally adding a dislike button.
Picking up on various users' excitement about the addition, scammers have used the opportunity to prey upon their on unsuspecting victims, reported CBS News. One such scam uses the wording "Get newly introduced facebook dislike button on your profile [sic]," adding that "Dislike Button is invite only feature [sic]."
The scam works by tricking the user into liking a page and sharing the link with his or her friends. Some of the scams also directs users towards expensive premium rate mobile phone subscriptions or online surveys that generate the scammers income every time a user fills them out.
While there have no been confirmation of any downloaded malware as a result of the scam, Hackread advises users to: stay away from these malicious links because they won't be providing you with access to the dislike button."
The Sophos Naked Security blog advises: "The important thing about a Facebook-provided Dislike button, of course, is that you wouldn't need to go to some random-looking third-party site to download it. So, Dislike button scams ought to be obviously bogus these days. After all, Facebook itself just reminded us that it doesn't have Dislike yet, but that if it gets one, it will be an official part of Facebook itself."
