Facebook Messenger Spam Leads to Adware, Malicious Chrome Extensions

[tarekma7]

A virulent spam campaign has hit Facebook Messenger during the past few days, according to recent warnings issued by Avira, CSIS Security Group, and Kaspersky Lab.

The Facebook spam messages contain a link to what appears to be a video. The messages arrive from one of the user's friends, suggesting that person's account was also compromised.

The format of the spam message is the user's first name, the word video, and a bit.ly or t.cn short-link.

Users that click on the links are redirected to different pages based on their geographical location and the type of browser and operating system they use.

It's been reported that Firefox users on Windows and Mac are being redirected to a page offering a fake Flash Player installer. Kaspersky says this file installs adware on users' PCs.

On Chrome, the spam campaign redirects users to a fake YouTube page pushing a malicious extension. It is believed that crooks use this Chrome extension to push adware and collect credentials for new Facebook accounts, which they later use to push the spam messages to new users also via the same malicious Chrome extension.

Users that encounter this spam campaign should avoid clicking on the malicious links, but also reach out to the person who sent the message and advise him to change his account credentials. Reporting the spam messages to Facebook is also recommended.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/se...xtensions/