Beware! ‘Dislike Button’ scams run amok on Facebook

For years, scammers have been using the lure of a ‘Dislike’ option as bait to catch Facebook users out, fooling them into jumping through various hoops which ultimately work out to the benefit of the scammer and the detriment to the user.

And when Facebook confirmed that they finally will actually be rolling out the Dislike button (or more of an Empathy button according to Zuckerberg as we discuss here) then it was inevitable that scammers were going exploit this news to their advantage.

After all, the scammers are no longer trying to bait users with a feature that simply doesn’t exist, but now can exploit a feature that does (or will) exist but the user doesn’t have yet. I.e. perfect bait.

So roll on an array of links and scams spreading virally across Facebook all falsely purporting to offer that much coveted Dislike option that – according to the links – can be installed right now. And they all have one goal in mind… and if you haven’t figured it out already, that goal isn’t to give you a Dislike option.

Spreading most prolifically are your typical share-survey scams that initially manifest themselves as links you see on Facebook, which could be a link sent as a chat message, a link you saw on your newsfeed or a link on a group you are a member of. (see below.)

Get newly discovered facebook dislike button on your profile.

Clicking the link takes you to a webpage resembling the image below that forces the user to share the link on their own timeline as well as to send it directly to other groups or people on Facebook. After that the user will also be prompted to complete intrusive surveys – a typical survey scam – that harvests personal information and can be used to launch – amongst other things – spam email.

And all for what? The user certainly won’t be getting the Dislike button this way, that’s for sure. Despite what they think or were told.

Malware scammers are also getting in on the act, using Facebook to spread links across the site that lead to malware-laden webpages that attempt to trick the visitor into installing dangerous software onto their computers thinking it is software required to enable the Dislike option. For the more sceptical, it will be of no surprise that it doesn’t.

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The take away from all this is NO, you can’t enable the Dislike option now, you cannot download the Dislike option. You cannot visit webpages or share links to retrieve the Dislike option. As with the majority of new Facebook features, you just have to wait until Facebook test it and roll it out. And like most Facebook rollouts, it will probably be staggered, meaning not all users will necessarily get it at the same time.

So be patient, and don’t fall for scams that assert to offer the Dislike option. They’re not real!

Still don’t get it? We created a short simple video on how these Facebook dislike scams work on our YouTube channel.