Two types of messages are spreading across Facebook, one asking users to find out who will be their Valentines, and the other claiming it is a virus.
As is common in these types of instances, neither is true.
In reality it is yet another rogue Facebook application that does nothing other than spam Facebook users, as opposed to anything really malicious.
The rogue Facebook application, like many others, works by asking permission to post from a Facebook users account (see image below), as well as requesting users send out invitations to their friends to use the application.
And in doing this, the Facebook application has been allowed to spread across Facebook like wildfire. It is popular in these sorts of situations for users to then falsely claim that the whole thing is a virus, forgetting that the application is doing exactly what the user gave it permission to do when they installed it – i.e. posting statuses and sending out invites from the users Facebook account.
It is important to understand that just because a rogue Facebook application is spammy, it does not mean that it is a virus. Often warnings are written by non-technical people who do not really understand what a virus is, and wrongly presume that because the application is auto-posting and spamming, then it must be down to a nefarious piece of malware.
Ultimately the “Be My Valentines 2014” app does nothing other than send out self-serving invitations and posts when installed, and after installation merely generates a photo of a random Facebook friend and bombard a user with third party adverts. These rogue Facebook apps are common and can potentially be used in conjunction with more serious scams, though in this case we cannot see any evidence of that.
Instead of flippantly and hastily installing any old Facebook app and then mistakenly blaming the ensuing spam on a virus, Facebook users are advised to be careful what apps they install and follow these simple steps –
1. Avoid installing Facebook apps you do not trust.
2. Be vigilant as to the permissions a Facebook app asks for when it installs.
3. If a Facebook app does begin to send out spam, then uninstall the app via your account settings and delete any posts it made from your account (unbelievable how many users fail to do that!)
Stay careful out there.
For further reading – The different things that can cause your Facebook account to spam others.
