Cybersecurity outfits are warning Facebook users not to fall for the latest scam: a "Dislike" button.
According to CBS News, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced earlier this month that the company is working on a button to express a sentiment other than "Like."
Zuckerberg took pains to explain that the new button would not be the long-rumored "Dislike" button, and suggested it would instead let users express empathy. That way, he said, users would have an alternative to "Liking" a post about death, sensitive topics, or bad news.
Since the announcement, scammers have capitalized on the news, creating a number of hoax webpages that look like Facebook's official website. Through advertising and shared links, scammers have been offering Facebook users the chance to access and activate the "Dislike" button in an exclusive pre-trial.
The scams usually ask for users to provide personal information in order to access the new feature, but cybersecurity experts explained that a company like Facebook would never ask users to do such a thing. In more sophisticated scams, users are asked to send hoax links to five of their friends before they are granted access to the non-existent feature.
Sophos security
wrote on the blog Naked Security that it tested some of the scammer links.
"In our tests, we ended up on two bait-and-switch scam sites, neither of which had anything to do with Facebook, or a Dislike button, and both of which wanted us to sign up by giving away personal information," the company wrote. "One was a get-rich-quick scheme, promising the astonishingly precise return of $1,419 in the first hour. The other asked us to participate in a survey of our choosing."
Facebook has never made users jump through any sort of hoops to access new features, and when the new button comes out there is sure to be much fanfare in the news. Until then, Facebook users are cautioned to be wary of any link promoting a "Dislike" button.
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