Be Careful with Your “Likes” and “Shares”

Facebook has changed the way a lot of people view and interact with the world.  Your BBB®, like millions of you, has a Facebook page. We like and share content from others as well as produce our own content, similar to this blog, to help educate consumers on common scams amongst other things.  BBB wants to remind consumers to like and share with caution as scammers are taking advantage of this social platform and our reflex to like or share content quickly using a tactic called “like-farming.”

Like-Farmers create a Facebook page to lure people into liking or sharing the page.  Once the page creators have piled up hundreds of likes and shares, they may strip the page and promote something else, such as products that they will receive commissions for selling. They may also sell the page and information that was collected from the “likes” with a more direct threat of gaining access in an attempt to gather credit card numbers that may be stored for certain Facebook apps, passwords or other personal information.

Click here to learn what posts should give you pause & to get tips on avoiding like-farming.