Site touts cracked Facebook credentials for $100
Site touts cracked Facebook credentials for $100
A new bogus service attempts to lure jilted lovers and other victims into paying for Facebook login and password credentials, according to security researchers at PandaLabs.
The Facebook hacking website -- called "Hack Facebook online!" -- pledges to be able to crack any account on the popular social networking site and offers to do it for $100.
“The question is whether these guys can actually hack a Facebook account, or whether they are just looking for the money,” Luis Corrons, lead researcher for PandaLabs, told SCMagazineUS.com Friday. “I'm certain that they just want the money.”
Needless to say, if an intruder actually hacked into a Facebook account, all personal data published on the site could be stolen, and the account could be used to send malware, spam or other threats to the victim's contacts, he said.
"As a scam, it's fairly well done,” Corrons said. “It looks very real: Once you register, you are directed to pick a Facebook account to hack, and once you do, [a Facebook account identification number] appears, so it seems to the gullible that the scammers know what they are doing.”
As the victim proceeds, the system seems to be doing something -- running a progress tally -- and then produces a message that says, “Congratulations,” claiming to have obtained the password, Corrons said. Then it says that the password can viewed, but only after paying for it through Western Union.
“Of course, you have to send the money to Ukraine," Corrons wrote Friday on the PandaLabs blog.
The crooks likely are confident they will not be reported to police because victims would be hesitant to tell authorities they tried to pay someone to hack into a Facebook account, he said.
On the hacker website is an FAQ page that says the service has been in business for more than four years, and even provides a link to a WebMoney account, Corrons said.
“But taking a look at this Facebook hacking website, we found out that it's been registered by someone from Moscow a couple of days ago,” he wrote.
A Facebook representative said the site is a scam.
“Our security team has investigated this site and determined that it's a hoax,” Facebook spokesman Simon Axten told SCmagazineUS.com Friday.
