File photo. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)

File photograph. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic) (Dado Ruvic / Reuters,Fotoware/ColorFactory)

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Facebook has changed the way people practice a lot of things online. For example, you lot probably notice yourself reflexively clicking "like" on annihilation your friends post on Facebook, fifty-fifty if information technology's just to admit yous saw it. Scammers are taking advantage of that reflex for a unsafe scam chosen "like-farming."

What is similar-farming?

Like-farming is when scammers mail service an attention-grabbing story on Facebook for the limited purpose of cultivating likes and shares. Based on the way Facebook works, the more likes and shares a post has, the more than likely information technology is to show upwards in people'southward News Feeds.

Like farming works because the average Facebook user doesn't know any ameliorate. They think, "What does it hurt to only like something?" But, it can hurt yous personally, and others. These posts and pages are often used to spread malware, or every bit a phishing scam to collect your personal information. That data is then used for farther scams and tin exist
sold on the black market. It'southward a mode for scammers to work around Facebook's algorithm, and put malicious code in front of more people.

This gives the scammer more eyeballs for posts that send people to malicious downloads or play a joke on them into providing data. The big question, of course, is why Facebook doesn't terminate these posts before they get too big. And that's where the real scam comes in.

How the scam works

Scammers accept plant a elementary style to fly under the radar during the early phases of their operation. The story they originally postal service to Facebook has nothing unsafe about information technology. It'south just a regular story that anyone might mail.

Only after the post gets a certain number of likes and shares does the scammer edit it and add something malicious. In fact, if you go back through your history of liked posts, you lot might observe that some of them have changed to something you wouldn't have liked in a million years. Past the way, if you're non sure how to review your likes, click here for the footstep-by-footstep instructions.

So, what kinds of stories do scammers commencement with to fox people into liking and sharing?

Posts that should requite you pause

One popular type of story is the emotional one. You've definitely seen the posts that show rescue animals and inquire you to like if you retrieve they're beautiful. Or perchance information technology's a medical story where y'all're asked to similar that the person was cured or to allow them know they're all the same beautiful afterward surgery.

There are also the posts that ask for a similar to bear witness that you're against something the authorities is doing, or that you disagree with something terrible happening in the world. Or maybe it's the ones that say "If I become X number of likes, then something amazing volition happen for me" or "I was challenged to get 10 number of likes."

Basically, any mail service that asks you to like it for emotional reasons, unless you know the person who created the original post, is quite probably a like-farming post.

Other types of scam posts to avoid

Emotional posts aren't the only ones you need to scout for. There are a lot of scams on Facebook, and most of them tin can be used for similar-farming. A popular 1, for case, asks you to similar or share so y'all tin can win something cool. These pop upwards virtually often when Apple tree launches a new iPhone or iPad.

You might take seen people posting on Facebook during the recent Powerball frenzy that anyone who liked their post would go a share of their winnings. How real do y'all remember those were?

What nearly brain-teaser posts, such as the ones that accept you similar or share if you can read the words backwards or solve a catchy math trouble? Yep, those are often like-farming posts, likewise.

And it isn't only posts; it can besides be pages. A scammer might gear up up a page for "I love puppies" or what appears to be a worthy visitor or organization. Information technology puts up plenty content to get a lot of likes, and so switches the content to spam and scams. Once yous've liked the page, everything new the scammers put up goes on your News Feed – and in some cases your friends' feeds as well.

How to avoid similar-farming

Your best bet to avoid like-farming is to be very judicious most what you lot like and share on Facebook. Don't merely reflexively click "like" on everything. Take a look at where the post is coming from. If information technology'due south from someone yous don't recognize, it could be a friend of a friend or it could exist a complete stranger. It would be good to notice out.

Notice the content and whether it promises anything for liking or sharing. If information technology does, information technology's a practiced inkling that information technology's a scam of some kind. The same goes if yous feel pushed or pressured into clicking like or share. Click here for 5 Facebook scams that go along to spread like wildfire.

Don't forget that, in the terminate, minimizing your likes is more than just a good security measure. Information technology too reduces the clutter in your friends' news feeds, and their clutter in yours, so you tin all spend more time seeing the actually important posts. That'southward a win-win for everyone.

Want another manner to reduce ataxia in your news feed? Follow these simple steps to run into merely what you want.

And since nosotros're talking about likes, do you lot know how the 2016 ballot would plow out if Facebook likes were votes? You
can find out the surprising, or not-so-surprising, answer right here.

Finally, there is 1 like push yous should press to become news and updates to stay ahead of the game in your digital life. Caput over to my Facebook page and like me at Facebook.com/KimKomando.

On the Kim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk prove, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today'due south digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and information hacks. For her daily tips, gratis newsletters and more than, visit her website at Komando.com. Kim too posts breaking tech news 24/7 at News.Komando.com.