This story was first published on October 20, 2014
Outline:
Email purporting to be from Facebook claims that you have a message that will be deleted in a few days if you do not click a button to view it.
Brief Analysis:
The email is not from Facebook and the claim that clicking the buttons will take you to unread Facebook messages is untrue. The buttons open a spammy drug store website that tries to sell various dodgy pharmaceutical products.
Detailed Analysis:
The message advises that you have not been to Facebook for a few days and a lot has happened while you were away.
It invites you to click either a ‘View Messages’ or ‘Go to Facebook’ button to access the missed message before it is deleted.
Message is Not From Facebook – Pharmacy Spam
Instead, the buttons open a decidedly dodgy website that tries to entice you into buying equally dodgy health products.
Of course, it is a very bad idea to buy products from these spam websites. Because you do not need a prescription, you have no way of knowing if the medication you are buying is the real thing. In reality, it could be some dangerous or useless substitute. The medication may be ineffective or it may interfere with other medications you are using with adverse results.
Buying From Such Sites Puts Your Credit Card At Risk
Spammers have used this tactic repeatedly over the last few years. Apparently, at least a few recipients of these emails actually stay to buy the spam website’s products after they have been tricked into visiting.
If you receive one of these fake Facebook emails, do not click any links that it contains. If you do inadvertently click a link and end up on a pharmacy spam website, close the site immediately.