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The fake Facebook profile industry

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Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#181

Post by ern »

laumars wrote: post #34
djsumdog wrote: post #29

I think the saddest part of this is that they prey on people. Many of the peeps here on HN can look at a profile and say "spam," so it's hard to imagine the people who can't. The 1% return from SPAM that click on those links, or put in their credit card details. There was a ReplyAll podcast episode where one of the reporters actually tracks down a shop in India; even goes there and talks to people who've worked at a…

I've reported spam accounts to Facebook - in fact I do so whenever I come across one. And on more than one occasion Facebook have closed the ticket claiming the account was legitimate. If some of Facebook's own moderation team cannot differentiate between spam accounts and legitimate ones then what hope is there for others?

Anecdotally, Facebook seems to have gotten worse at handling fake account reports recently. I have a hunch that it’s because their moderation team has grown, and the average moderator ability hasn’t kept up.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#182

Post by musage »

emodendroket wrote: post #126
tajen wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi. Apart from deeply empathizing with you, I have to say there are millions of men who suffer similar problems because there’s extremely little empathy for them. Ex: PyCon, James Damore and GitHub. If you want people to develop empathy for men (which are often at the bottom of the priority list, below women and dogs), MRM movements need more highly competent people and money. Check out what the CAFE organization doe…

Seems like James Damore has almost nothing to do with this scenario, not least because in his case he voluntarily shared his manifesto publicly.

To get subsequently smeared to hell and back.

Oh, and he didn't even share it publically. He shared it with an internal group discussing these issues. It was then "leaked", and everybody piled on. And you now took part in exactly that, repeating the slander.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#183

Post by Ibethewalrus »

tmpz22 wrote: post #131

Throwaway to share a valuable perspective. My dad is a chronic target for scammers, and falls for them at a rate where I can only think it intentional on some level. He'll allow fake MSPs to install programs as root, on the same machine he does banking and legal on. He'll call numbers when strange javascript alerts tell him he has a virus. He'll then pay people to "remove" said malware, giving them full access to the…

if he won't listen i would create a fake phishing website and get him into a little bit of trouble before he -and your family- get into REAL trouble.

Made me think about this stephen king short story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quitters,_Inc.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#184

Post by javajosh »

tmpz22 wrote: post #131

Throwaway to share a valuable perspective. My dad is a chronic target for scammers, and falls for them at a rate where I can only think it intentional on some level. He'll allow fake MSPs to install programs as root, on the same machine he does banking and legal on. He'll call numbers when strange javascript alerts tell him he has a virus. He'll then pay people to "remove" said malware, giving them full access to the…

This might sound weird, but what about buying him a premium porn account? Maybe don't even tell him about it, let him find it. Ideally one with an app, a good reputation and clean (infosec-wise) content. It would be like a $30/mo insurance policy on your dad's assets!

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#185

Post by Bedon292 »

trifidpaw wrote: post #148
tmpz22 wrote: post #131

Throwaway to share a valuable perspective. My dad is a chronic target for scammers, and falls for them at a rate where I can only think it intentional on some level. He'll allow fake MSPs to install programs as root, on the same machine he does banking and legal on. He'll call numbers when strange javascript alerts tell him he has a virus. He'll then pay people to "remove" said malware, giving them full access to the…

Have you considered running OpenWRT / LEDE or a pi-hole ( https://pi-hole.net/ ) to block adverts / known websites where such scams occur at a network level? (There are publicly available lists of known botnet / scam IP's)

I would also consider installing ad blocker(s) into his browser (and possibly hiding the icon) along with the anti ad blocker blocker, so not to get those pop ups saying you are using ad blocking. It is what I have done with family in the past in order to help cut down on a lot of that stuff.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#186

Post by JauntyHatAngle »

RepressedEmu wrote: post #164
koolba wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prior to the internet and social media there was less noise, hence a higher signal to noise ratio.

I presume that holds unless the only "signal" you get is your local priest and feudal lord? Especially since for most of human civilization the vast majority(95%+) couldn't read or write...

I'm not sure we are talking about the middle ages here.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#187

Post by creep »

koolba wrote: post #158
fnl wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But in an era when the truth is so easy to distort, what should you believe? What makes you think that in some time before it was easier to find the truth?

Prior to the internet and social media there was less noise, hence a higher signal to noise ratio.

Truth and information has always been under the control of will. If someone has a "truth", there is a binary decision. The signals have always been under control of he who broadcasts them. The noise doesn't matter, apart from your ability to decide what the most likely truth is for yourself.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#188

Post by cm2187 »

I deleted my facebook app since half of the posts in my feed were fake anyway. Facebook disguises ads as friend's share and likes, even when it is obvious that a particular friend would never like a corporate page. They even pushed the bad taste by making my deceased father (who's account we didn't think to delete) like things after he passed. So if you add fake profiles to that...

As a note, I hadn't received an email from facebook since pretty much I registered many years ago. Since I deleted the app a few weeks ago, facebook started spamming my email with notifications. And they use this trick that is really a new low, they create a thousand different kinds of mailing list so that every time you unsubscribe from one, you still receive new spam because it's "another" mailing list.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#189

Post by cm2187 »

mkoryak wrote: post #127

Lately I have been getting contacted by random 'women' on gtalk who 'just want to be friends'. I usually just block them but last week I decided to play along. Long story short: they wanted me to cam with them and to see my picture. I sent them a link to non-existent page on my domain and logged their IP. I confronted them with their IP and the fact that they were in Nigeria and not south Carolina. The account was im…

Skype has that a lot too.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#190

Post by jmcgough »

javajosh wrote: post #184
tmpz22 wrote: post #131

Throwaway to share a valuable perspective. My dad is a chronic target for scammers, and falls for them at a rate where I can only think it intentional on some level. He'll allow fake MSPs to install programs as root, on the same machine he does banking and legal on. He'll call numbers when strange javascript alerts tell him he has a virus. He'll then pay people to "remove" said malware, giving them full access to the…

This might sound weird, but what about buying him a premium porn account? Maybe don't even tell him about it, let him find it. Ideally one with an app, a good reputation and clean (infosec-wise) content. It would be like a $30/mo insurance policy on your dad's assets!

Or even just install a porn blocker on the machine. He'd probably move to using his phone or something, but at least it isn't the same machine he does finances on.
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