FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
MANILA, Philippines — Several netizens have warned other Facebook users about accounts being tagged again to malicious links and other content which supposedly lead to hacking and phishing incidents.
According to a post from one Facebook user, she was tagged in several posts that appeared like news articles and video feeds, that when clicked would supposedly put an account at risk of being hacked.
This is not the first time though that this issue was raised by Facebook users: In April, there were several posts that enticed people to click on a particular link to watch a sex video.
People were also tagged in the post by their friends, even if their friends say that they did not make any comments. Later on, it was revealed that the site is actually meant for phishing scams, or for obtaining personal details of a netizen.
Facebook said back in April 21 that it had already investigated the incident, adding that it seems the tagging of users is not targeted.
After the spread of such links, Facebook’s country spokesperson advised users not to click on suspicious links, and refrain from providing personal or confidential details online.
“We encourage people not to open any suspicious links or messages, and to use our reporting tools if they see any suspicious activity or content that violates our Community Standards,” the spokesperson added.
According to Facebook’s Help page, the ability to tag people on comments and posts, even if you are not friends with the Facebook user, depends on the privacy settings.
“Anyone can tag you in photos and other posts. Tags from people you’re not friends with may appear in your timeline review, where you can decide if you want to allow them on your timeline. Remember, posts you choose not to allow on your timeline may appear in News Feed and elsewhere on Facebook,” Facebook’s page said.
“Depending on your settings, you’ll receive a notification when someone tags you. You can choose what notifications you receive about tags from your settings,” it added.
Facebook said that these are the following steps users could take to avoid being tagged by people outside of your friend list:
- Click the options button in the top right of Facebook.
- Select Settings & Privacy, then click Settings.
- Click Notifications in the left column.
- Click Tags to see all your choices.
- From here, you can:
- Choose the audience you want to get notifications from. Click the circle to the right of the audience (example: Anyone or Friends) to select.
- Choose how you want to get the notifications. Click to the right of Push, Email or SMS to select https://www.facebook.com/help/226296694047060/?ref=u2u
Aside from social media managers, technology experts and law enforcers from the Philippine National Police’s Anti Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) have warned the public continuously about sites pretending to be legitimate but are actually designed to obtain information or sensitive details like bank account numbers and passwords.
Such websites should be avoided, authorities said.
READ: How to protect yourself from cyber fraud and fake bank emails
READ: Taking steps to avoid phishing scams