A warning is spreading across Facebook that asserts the reader should be aware of a link labelled “visit the new Facebook” since opening it will result in you losing your Facebook account.
Overblown, misleading or inaccurate warnings are commonplace on Facebook, and this is one of them. This version of the warning actually began circulating back in 2011 and has popped up every now and again with increased vigour, while remaining a largely useless warning.
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 share this to your wall and everyone on your friends to help them too.
A slightly modified version of the rumour spread in 2012, only this time warning of a link labelled “VISIT THE NEW TIMELINE”. Another modified version of the rumour warned of a link called “Tour the new Facebook”. They are all as equally as spurious as this example.
Ever since this warning began spreading back in 2011, there has been no credible threat matching the description laid out in the warning.
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The premise that merely opening a link would “remove” you from your Facebook account is overly alarming at best. Clicking links on Facebook is typically only the first step needed to be completed for an online scam to be successful. The victim would have to jump through further hoops (such as entering their username and password into a spoof webpage) for a scammer to be able to take control over their Facebook account.
Despite the warning being false, there is an element of good advice here. And that is to avoid clicking on suspicious links on Facebook, even if they seem to have been posted by a friend. Such links can be the initial step to serious Internet scams.
However this potentially good advice is lost in an ultimately pointless and fake Facebook warning that has been floating across cyberspace on and off for a number of years now, and as such it should not be circulated.
