At first glance, this email looks like an official Facebook message. It claims that you have notifications pending and urges you to click a link to see activity that you have missed on Facebook.
Email Is Not From Facebook
However, Facebook did not send the email and the links do not point to Facebook. The “missed activity” claim is just a ruse designed to get you to click the links in the email. The spammers have simply copied the formatting and colour scheme of genuine Facebook messages as a means of enticing unsuspecting recipients into following their links.
Links Open Spammy Pharmacy Website
Following the links opens a dodgy Canadian Pharmacy website that tries to sell you various pharmaceutical products.
It is very unwise to buy any medication from one of these spam pharmacy websites. Even if you do actually receive a product that you order on such a site, you have no way of knowing if it is the real thing or some potentially dangerous substitute. Thus, taking such medication may be dangerous and against the law.
And such sites often do not use secure pages to process credit card transactions, which could put your credit card details at risk. Moreover, any outfit willing to use deceptive and highly unethical tactics to promote its wares – such as sending spam email disguised as Facebook messages – is not someone who can be trusted with your credit card or other personal details.
To make matters worse, the sites that these spam messages link to often harbour various forms of malware.
Spammers Often Use Such Methods
Spammers have regularly used such tactics. In an earlier campaign, users received emails falsely claiming that their Facebook account had been deactivated. As in this example, links in the emails pointed to an online drug store. And spammers have also used bogus Twitter emails that again featured links to Canadian Pharmacy websites.
Another variant claims that Facebook Support has sent you a message.
Just Hit Delete
If you receive one of these spam emails, just hit the “Delete” key. Keep in mind that online criminals also use fake Facebook notification emails in phishing and malware attacks. It is always safest to access Facebook by entering the address into your browser’s address bar or via an official app. If Facebook does have any important messages for you, you will be notified when you log in.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
