Interested in getting a piece of the Facebook pie? Have you received an email featuring such offers? Be careful where you click, as Symantec’s Security Team warns. If you have been offered exclusive access to subscribe to Facebook’s IPO shares, there’s a good chance that it is a scam.
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Symantec Security Response recently spotted a 419 scam email titled “FACEBOOK (IPO) SUBSCRIPTION PARTNERSHIP PROPOSAL”(and may be titled something similar to avoid your email filters) appears to be like many scams out there, having an email address using a common free web-based email provider and offering lucrative returns.
A legitimate company would almost certainly use an email address from its own domain rather than a free Web-based address. Another sign that this is a scam is that the email address and name in the “From” header of the message are also different to the email address and name used in the message body. While Symantec has yet to determine the exact nature of the scam, Symantec advises caution when opening this email.
Given the high profile nature of this IPO, Symantec expects scammers to take advantage of it in the same way that they have taken advantage of previous news stories and events.
For more information on the above, please click this link to the Symantec’s Security Response blog post at http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/419-scammers-take-advantage-facebook-ipo
Symantec advises Internet users to follow these best practices to avoid falling prey to similar scams:
- Do not click on suspicious links in email messages.
- Avoid providing any personal information when answering an email.
- Frequently update your security software (such as Norton Internet Security 2012) which protects you from online phishing.
