A recent report revealed a concerning rise in a malvertising campaign on Facebook that has been active for almost a year. The shocking part is that Facebook is struggling to put an end to it, while the campaign is now expanding to include multiple languages, apart from just English.
In light of this information, two different kinds of scams have surfaced in German. The first Facebook scam was posted as a fundraiser but did not allow comments, preventing efforts to raise awareness of the scam.
Following speculation and queries made to an account owner, it became clear that many other users were witnessing the same pattern. This is not a fresh occurrence, as it was noticed that similar cases in the past escalated into an extension of these scams on Messenger, often leading to unwanted installations of Facebook apps and further spreading of malicious content.
Notably, the URLs hosting these scams were using legitimate services like storage.googleapis.com as a cover. Although such services may seem trustworthy, they often offer an unhealthy context for any cybercriminal looking to exploit opportunities.
As part of the recent investigation to curb these scams, Malwarebytes has already secured the blockage of the domain windyplentiful.com. Additionally, other domains have been noted and blockages have been imposed to limit the spread of these scams further.
All of these scams that have hosted these fraudulent activities originate from servers and domains that are recognized as potential threats and have been consequently blocked by Malwarebytes.
If you find yourself compromised, there are steps you can take to recover from a Facebook scam and secure your account from future threats. These include revoking access to unknown and unused Facebook apps, enabling two-factor authentication (2FA), and changing your password.
Cybersecurity risks are not limited to headlines. To safeguard your digital identity, consider using Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection to protect you and your family’s personal information from any potential threats.
