How to avoid getting scammed on Facebook.

How to avoid getting scammed on Facebook. A person could write an entire encyclopedia on this subject and still not run out of material. Today's topic is video scams.

First off, I work in the IT world. I've been on the internet since it went public, and because of my profession, I am required to know about dangers that the average Facebook user only learns about by being the victim of hoaxes or scams. My purpose with this post is to prevent you being the victim.

How many times have you seen a link that is supposed to be to a video posted by a friend, only to find you aren't getting to view a video when you get there? It happens a lot, and I can guarantee you that there is no video and somewhere, someone is stealing your personal information or collecting "likes" on their page. Either way, you've been scammed.

The first tip is if you are told you have to share or like the video before you can view it. How do you know the video is worth sharing if you haven't seen it yet? Of course the person perpetrating the scam knows the average Facebook user clicks before thinking about that. Heck, I've done it myself.

At this point the worst thing you've done in most cases is encourage the people you shared this video with to also click on it. In most cases the scammer is trying to collect information from you that they can either sell to spammers or use to assume your identity, ruining your credit record while enriching themselves. In the most innocuous cases they are merely trying to get you to "like" several times on their page to use it for commercial gain later by changing the content, but retaining the "likes".

Even worse if it the link prompts you to upgrade your browser, video viewer, driver, or other software before you can view it. What you would be downloading is not an upgrade, but rather a virus. Now you definitely need to back up. If a video requires you to use a nonstandard viewer, chances are you can see the same video by going to youtube.com and searching for that video. Otherwise, there is no real video to see.


Always be cautious when clicking on unfamiliar links, and keep your anti-virus, firewall, and anti-malware software up to date.