Monday, October 1, 2012

Reborn Hoax -- Reality of 'Visit the New Facebook/Timeline' Link

Beware! Its a Cyber World -- 'Visit the New Facebook' Link: Summary

A message is widely spreading on social network 'Facebook' claiming that if any Facebook user receives a message from someone, even from his/her friends' list, asking to click a link titled as 'Visit the New Facebook'; don't open the link as it may lead the user to a hacker's trap and may lose the access to his/her Facebook account.

The message looks like:

Reborn Hoax -- Reality of 'Visit the New Facebook/Timeline' Link
And reads as:

"W A R N I N G .. ! ! .....W A R N I N G .. ! !
If someone in your profile or a
friend sends you a LINK that says
'VISIT THE NEW FACEBOOK' do
... NOT open it. If you do, you're
... ... ... ... ... sure to say GOODBYE to your
Facebook account. This is actually
a trap by a HACKER who steals
your details and REMOVES you
permanently from your own
page. please COPY and paste it
on your wall and send it to your
groups too"
Beware! Its a Cyber World -- 'Visit the New Facebook' Link: Explanation
There are plenty of phishing scams and hacking attempts from internet fraudsters and cyber criminals trying to gain access to Facebook accounts; but in this specific case there's no reality and the warning is totally baseless. 
According to Facebook, "this re-worded hoax message is currently circulating. The original, whose warning was "Visit New Facebook", began circulating about a year ago. Now, with the recent introduction of the Timeline, someone has changed the message to say "Visit New Timeline", but the claims in the message are still untrue." 
According to Snopes; this warning is nothing more than a hoax spread by well-meaning but credulous Facebook users: there have been no recorded instances of "Visit the new Facebook" come-ons containing malicious links of any kind (only warnings about them) and none of the major computer security/anti-virus software companies has reported users' actually encountering Facebook info-stealing malware that reached them in such fashion. 
Therefore, the simple advice is not to pass on such sensational alerts without confirmation to your Facebook friends. Some hoaxes malign companies and individuals. You don’t want to be responsible for damaging the reputation of an innocent party just by automatically posting a story to your wall. It is great to spread useful information and legitimate warnings to your friends – just do a little fact finding before clicking “share.” 

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