“Terrifying Guy Removes Blackhead” viral Facebook video

A video with the headline “OMG Terrifying!!! Guy removes his Blackhead, You wont Believe what he discovered” is spreading virally across Facebook.

The video is one of many links that are spreading virally across Facebook thanks to a recent surge in spammy, rogue Facebook applications plaguing the website. Such links entice Facebook users by appearing on their newsfeeds, equipped with click-luring headlines and pictures (see the example below)

However clicking the link does not take you to the video. First users are requested to install a Facebook app as you can see from the image below. The app, called Mind Less Entertainment or Anything Viral also wants permission to post from your account.

Installing third party apps is potentially very dangerous, simply because they are poorly regulated by Facebook. Facebook Apps are not designed by the Facebook team, and pretty much anyone can create apps, including scammers. In fact, often scammers!

Most Facebook apps are spammy, in that they bombard you with third party advertisements which provide revenue for the spammers. Often the apps can have a more sinister side, by luring you to websites that trick users into installing malware. (Think you installed malware? Run a full system scan. Looking for our recommended security software – click here for our recommended security software for 2015)

In the case of the “terrifying blackhead” video, it both prompts the user to install malware and bombards them with spammy advertisements. Installing the Facebook app forwards users to the below webpage, which is full of spammy ads and attempts to trick the user into installing malware disguised as a “video plugin” (remember our article on why video plugins are not always video plugins, but rather malware instead!)

If you can wade through all the apps you will find a video which you could have just have easily watched on YouTube instead if you were so inclined to see a man have a blackhead removed.

If you installed a spammy Facebook app, remember to remove it! Go to your Facebook Settings, click Apps and select the X on the app you want to remove.

Learn all about spammy Facebook apps, how to spot them and why you should NEVER install them in our full article about them here.