Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp – Phishing Scheme

Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp – Phishing Scheme

Meta said Monday that it is suing people behind a phishing scheme to steal usernames and passwords from platforms. The lawsuit, listed in a federal court in California, alleges establishment of more than 39,000 websites since 2019; This is an imitation of logging on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Meta does not consider who is behind the scene. The company says this is an attempt to deceive consumers and obtain their information.

This action underscores how the world’s hugest social network is coping with phishing. This is a practice where attackers create fake websites or emails to trick people into getting personal information. Reports of phishing attacks are on the rise in the industry, especially after a pandemic. Accordingly, the company seeks to take all measures to identify the culprits and prevent this behavior.

Phishing Attacks

Over the summer, an anti-phishing team reported 260,642 phishing attacks. This is the highest monthly total in the group’s reporting history. According to the report, phishing attacks have doubled since 2020.

The criminals used the services of the San Diego-based Ngrok to hide their identities. To transfer traffic to phishing websites so that the information about the identity of the obscure websites was obscured. The 21-page suit includes screenshots of login pages. It was identical to the login pages of WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger; Ngrok URLs were used, however. Some bluff websites were in Italian and English.

Alan Shreve, the founder of Ngrok, mentioned that the company is working with Meta and other firms to detect and eliminate the effect of harmful factors on the system. Ngrok allows millions of developers to quickly and securely connect everything to the Internet. However, evil characters used this opportunity to launch spam, fraud, and phishing attacks.

The company claims in the Meta lawsuit that the defendants violated the terms of the social network service. This means disregarding the California Anti-Phishing Act and non-compliance with federal law prohibiting trademark infringement. The lawsuit does not say how many people were explicitly deceived and illegally disseminated how much of their information.

Conclusion

This year, Facebook complained about using and disseminating data from several states. Hence, people seem to have reasonable doubts about the protection and security of personal data. The fact is that Meta has started an active fight to protect the rights of consumers and intends by law to prevent any action that would endanger the well-being of consumers.