Facebook spam attack leaves folk guessing

SNS, 31 July 2014: A spam/virus attack on Facebook has left many Siliguri residents scratching their heads and posting statuses asking friends to ignore a video link that is being sent through the chat option on their walls and in a user’s name. 

The ‘peculiar’ phenomenon that surfaced a few days ago sends messages to friends from a user’s account without the user’s knowledge.
"I have been receiving phone calls from many of my friends, asking what the video is about as they were unable to open it, while they also said I sent ‘some other things’ through the chat option. I was taken aback as I did not send any such thing to anybody," said a Facebook user of Deshbandhu Para in Siliguri.
Another user said he deactivated his account altogether after the video link started posting itself on his friends’ walls.
"This thing has gone viral, as many of our friends have also been affected. I have deactivated my account for the time being, as it may affect my image, because many of my friends may think that I posted the link purposely. The Facebook administration should improve its systems to better defend these attacks," he said.
According to users of the popular social networking site, the link gets posted in a user’s name if s/he clicks on the link.
"I had been receiving the video link for the past few days, but I was ignoring it. One day, it came on my wall again through a very close friend so I tried to open it. Though the link did not open, the next thing that happened left me speechless and red-faced. Most of my friends told me they got the link on their walls from me, when the fact is I never sent the link to anyone," said a student of Siliguri College.
Despite this, users say they can do very little. They are at a loss as to how they could combat the attack and find a solution to the problem.
"I have never experienced such a problem. It seems that my account has been hacked. Facebook is an important medium for people like us to communicate with other people, so there should be at least a solution. I have already posted a message on my Facebook wall, alerting my friends about the video link," said another college student.