Are the blue hues of Facebook making you blue? Wish you could change it? How about pink?? Maybe to red, perhaps black? Whatever your flavor, there’s an offer on Facebook to do just that—change your Facebook profile color. Sounds great doesn’t it? The catch? It’s not real. It’s a scam.
Earlier this week Sophos reported the scam allowing Facebook users to “Say goodbye to the boring blue profile and say hello to the pink profile!!” Other colors offered include red and black too.
Clicking the link will innocently ask you to share with your friends, followed by the standard “fill out a survey” bit that most Facebook scams use. That’s how the scammers profit. The more surveys filled out, the more money they make.
This scam luckily doesn’t ask for any personal info, but you should still remove any mention of it from your profile if you have been tricked.
Scams like this appear all of the time on Facebook, using tempting prizes like free Costco gift cards, free iPads, or the ability to let you see who’s viewing your profile in order to lure you into filling out surveys. Some are more dangerous than others so you have to be careful not to make an oops.
Remember that just because the offer ‘comes from a friend,” it may not be for real. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do a Google search on the offer and if it’s a scam the search results will tell you or not.