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Hi
I know a friend of mine whose Facebook account was hijacked. Now I read this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/04/facebook_friend_in_peril_scam/
Its scary. It does not matter if you limit who can view your profile or not.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by MktgRob

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Building on 's report of a hijacked Facebook account and 's "trust but verify" tip, this post explains how these hijacks typically work and gives practical, step-by-step actions for prevention and recovery.

Common tactics are social engineering (an urgent message from a friend), phishing pages that harvest credentials, and third-party apps that request excessive permissions. Privacy settings that limit profile visibility do not stop an attacker who already controls an account or a malicious app from messaging friends or posting on behalf of the account.

Immediate response and prevention steps:

  1. Change the account password to a long, unique password and force a logout of all active sessions from Security settings.
  2. Enable two-factor authentication (use an authenticator app or hardware key rather than SMS when possible).
  3. Review and remove any unknown email addresses or phone numbers listed for recovery.
  4. Revoke permissions for unknown or suspicious third-party apps.
  5. Check "Where Youre Logged In" or Login Activity and end unfamiliar sessions.
  6. Run a full malware/antivirus scan on every device used to access the account.
  7. Notify friends that messages/posts sent during the incident may be malicious and should be ignored.
  8. Use the platform's compromised-account/reporting flow to notify Facebook and follow their account-recovery steps.
  9. If the account manages pages or ad accounts, immediately review and remove unknown admins and check billing settings.

A few cautions and verification notes: follow 's advice—verify identity through a prearranged channel (call a known number or use an alternate messenger), never call numbers provided in a suspicious message, and avoid reusing passwords across sites. If recovery is blocked, secure the primary email account used for login before attempting Facebook recovery, since attackers who control email can regain access.

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I want to share another link about a report releasing info on major companies and how vulnerable their software are for attacks.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

This is truly scary. Thanks for the heads up on this. Reagan said 'Trust but Verify" so I guess the best bet here is to request a direct phone call from whoever asks for help. No need to give your phone number as the 'Friend' should no how to reach you. And if it is a case of customs agents calling ask for their name so that you can give it to the state department to get their assistance. Just a thought but each scam will be different. Trust but Verify.

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