How often do you log in to Facebook? Ten times a day? Fifty? All it takes is once for a new piece of financial fraud malware to catch you off guard and make off with your money. A reworked version of the cyberattack tool called Ice IX is the culprit; in its new configuration, the Web injection component of Ice IX hits unsuspecting Facebook users with a pop-up window immediately after they log in.
The rigged window, which looks exactly like a real Facebook page, tells users they need to "verify" their identity by entering their credit card number, expiration date, card identification number, name and address. The message in the fake Facebook page says the "verification" is needed "in order to provide you with extra security." Of course, as soon as you hand over your financial data, it's out of your control and now you're in serious trouble. Equally crooked scams, with the "verify your identity" hook and a desire for your banking credentials, have also been spotted hiding under the assumed legitimacy of emails from eBay and US Airways. The website Hoax-Slayer reported finding an email claiming to be from eBay that, just like the Facebook Ice IX scam, tells recipients they are signed in "from a computer we're not familiar with," and that in order "to make sure no one is trying to access your account with permission," they need to confirm their identity. For more than a week now this scam has been spreading, telling victims they can check-in to their flight. If they follow the instructions to do so, victims are taken through a series of steps that, ultimately, results in their computers being compromised with the Zeus Trojan, a dangerous banking-account-siphoning cyber weapon.
