There’s another scam doing the rounds on Facebook – this one puts a message in your notifications as follows:

Friend Name has faced some errors when checking your profile View The Errors Message

The spelling mistake is a clue but it’s subtle and I must admit, I nearly clicked on the Activate button after clicking the link.  But the application installs itself without you clicking the Activate button so you need to remove it if you’ve clicked the link, even if you saw it as a scam and didn’t activate.
I’ve obliterated the names of the two friends who’ve activated the scam application to spare their blushes.

From what I’ve been able to find out about this scam (it’s only about a day old) anyone who activates the application causes the same “notification” to be sent to their friends.  There is a suggestion that the application can do other things, possibly harvesting your details or mis-using your account in other ways.

The application can be removed by clicking the Applications button on the Facebook status bar and then Edit.  Find “Error Systems” and click the x next to it.

This poses some serious questions about Facebook and what can only be described as negligence on their part.  Why does the Facebook API allow an application to install itself without the user giving permission to do so?  And why is Facebook hosting such an application?  Do they vet new applications to make sure that their users are protected from scams like this?

Facebook has just abandoned an attempt to revise its terms and conditions to give it more control over its users’ data.  Is there any reason to think that Facebook can be trusted with even more rights over the data its users store there when they cleary can’t be relied on to protect it?

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Scam