Alarming behaviour of a Facebook app
By Gina
@Gina145 (3949)
Johannesburg, South Africa
May 10, 2016 5:52pm CST
Yesterday I mentioned some crazy messages I got while I was doing one of those silly quizzes doing the rounds on Facebook. As I ignored those messages I didn't take them too seriously, but the comments I received on that post have given me cause for concern. Could this really be an attempt to infect my computer with a virus or to hack it?
Before coming to myLot tonight I paid Facebook a visit, and among my notifications was one telling me that my cousin had commented on my link, which happened to be a link to that quiz. Two weird things there:
- the result displayed on my Facebook page was different from the result when I did the quiz.
- according to Facebook I posted that link 5 hours ago. I didn’t share the link when I did the quiz, and I wasn't even online 5 hours ago, so I'm seriously concerned about how that happened.
I immediately disabled that app from my Facebook account, along with a few other apps linking to similar quizzes. I've just run Malwarebytes - thanks @CRK109 for the suggestion - which found 13 "Potentially Unwanted Programs" but nothing it identified as malware. I need to restart my computer before I run a full anti-virus scan. Best to be safe.
The rest of my Facebook page looks as expected, so I hope that disabling that app is all that was really required.
I guess I need to stay away from those quizzes from now on.
11 people like this
10 responses
@CRK109 (14556)
• United States
12 May 16
oh thank goodness your computer is okay! I was blessed that when my husband was alive, he use to listen to all sorts of tech shows on the radio and he got me to sign up for some tech emails from a couple of people who are very well informed. And that's how I found out about that software. I swear by it. Along with a good anti-virus program, of course. So glad everything is good to go on your end now. :)
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
12 May 16
@CRK109 It was a big relief that all the scans came up clean. I tend to worry a lot about all sorts of things, usually without cause, but this experience was more frightening than most. I just hope I can find the willpower to avoid those quizzes in future.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
12 May 16
@CRK109 I've also done them quite often in the past and this is the first one that's ever done anything strange. I think the part that bothered me most was that it posted to my Facebook account when I wasn't online and if my cousin hadn't commented on it, I might never have even known that post was there.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
18 May 16
Hi Lany. I haven't seen anything about that kind of scam in the newspapers, and I'm really not sure what the intention was with this one, but I'm planning to stay away from those quizzes in future. It's not worth the risk.
I'm not doing as much writing as I'd like to right now. I was really enjoying blogging at BlogJob, but with their rewards system suspended I haven't been posting lately. I'm hopeful that the suspension is only temporary but I'm looking at other blogging options just in case.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
19 May 16
@Inlemay I will. I have no intention to leave myLot. I just don't have as much time to spend here as some people do. This is a great site for socialising and learning about other people's way of life and I hope the interaction will help me to be more creative too.
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@dpk262006 (58676)
• Delhi, India
24 Jun 16
Yes, you should not unnecessarily indulge in doubtful quizzes on web applications. Even if you have slightest of doubt, you should not play quizzes.
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@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
24 Jun 16
@dpk262006 It's over a month now and I'm happy to say that I haven't given in to the temptation to do those quizzes. It's not worth the risk.
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@dpk262006 (58676)
• Delhi, India
27 Jun 16
@Gina145 - Your experience has made you saner. 
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
18 May 16
yes, i had to run malwarebytes recently on my pc, too
speaking of quizzes, are you still on quizbook?
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
11 May 16
@cintol I rarely share them either because I find a lot of the results make no sense at all, but sometimes I like to comment on just how crazy they are. But after the strange messages I got last night I was determined not to share this one.
I hope those quizzes don't give you any problems.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
11 May 16
i ne'er do those quizzes 'n rarely e'en open any links i see'n there. jest fer that reason. too many folks with too much time'n their hands'n evil'n their hearts. shame they can't put their services to better use, eh? i hope that'cha found nothin' worse embedded'n yer puter, hon.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
12 May 16
Thanks @crazyhorseladycx . Both my scans came up pretty clean, so hopefully blocking that app will prevent any further problems. Now I just have to make sure that I don't get tempted to do any more of those quizzes. I follow a lot of other links though because one of my friends shares some really interesting articles.
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