"Unlike" really doesn't communicate my level of disdain
February 8, 2012 12:36 PM Subscribe
What is hijacking my facebook profile with unwanted "likes?"
Every once in a while, fan pages for companies and products smarm their way into my facebook feed. Going into my profile, it says I've "liked" these pages -- when I have done no such thing.
When this happens, I follow the advice in this "clickjacking" thread -- I unlike all the offenders and report all posts in my feed as spam, but it doesn't stop it from coming back.
I've changed my facebook password as well, but to no avail.
I'm not clicking on any sketchy facebook links - this problem is different than those SEE WHAT THIS DAD SAID TO HIS TEEN spammy links. Companies I don't recognize just start showing up in my feed as if I've made them my friends.
My profile is pretty minimal, but there are a few fan pages I legitimately want to follow. Could there be a vulnerability there?
What could be editing my profile without my permission?
Every once in a while, fan pages for companies and products smarm their way into my facebook feed. Going into my profile, it says I've "liked" these pages -- when I have done no such thing.
When this happens, I follow the advice in this "clickjacking" thread -- I unlike all the offenders and report all posts in my feed as spam, but it doesn't stop it from coming back.
I've changed my facebook password as well, but to no avail.
I'm not clicking on any sketchy facebook links - this problem is different than those SEE WHAT THIS DAD SAID TO HIS TEEN spammy links. Companies I don't recognize just start showing up in my feed as if I've made them my friends.
My profile is pretty minimal, but there are a few fan pages I legitimately want to follow. Could there be a vulnerability there?
What could be editing my profile without my permission?
Have you tried checking what apps are authorized to interact with your facebook acount?
posted by Memo at 12:38 PM on February 8, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Memo at 12:38 PM on February 8, 2012 [3 favorites]
I know this will sound asinine, but I get accidental likes on my page when I am browsing on a phone and logged in to FB. Some company's pages have the "like us on FB" button very close to the scroll bar, close page command, or other feature I like to use, and I accidentally press it. There is no notification at the time in my browser-- I just go to FB and there's some random likes posted there.
posted by holyrood at 12:56 PM on February 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by holyrood at 12:56 PM on February 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
- Go to Account Settings (under the little arrow next to 'Home' in the top right corner)
- On the left side of the screen, click 'Apps'
- You'll see a list of Apps that have access to your account. If you see anything that looks fishy or that you don't recognize, click the 'x' to get rid of it. If in doubt, get rid of it.
posted by BurntHombre at 1:08 PM on February 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
(I do not work at FB, but do work a lot with FB pages)
If this is really happening with regularity, what kind of Pages are we talking about? Do they look like legitimate brands? If you visit the Page, does the Wall there have actual posts, or just a bunch of spam?
If the Pages themselves seem innocuous, it's so-unlikely-it's-impossible that some kind of bug/virus is doing this to you. Does someone else (s.o., kids, roommate) have access to your account? If you go to this URL, you'll see a full activity feed, including timestamps of any Likes:
http://www.facebook.com/[YOUR_USERNAME]/allactivity
Is there a pattern?
posted by mkultra at 2:27 PM on February 8, 2012
If this is really happening with regularity, what kind of Pages are we talking about? Do they look like legitimate brands? If you visit the Page, does the Wall there have actual posts, or just a bunch of spam?
If the Pages themselves seem innocuous, it's so-unlikely-it's-impossible that some kind of bug/virus is doing this to you. Does someone else (s.o., kids, roommate) have access to your account? If you go to this URL, you'll see a full activity feed, including timestamps of any Likes:
http://www.facebook.com/[YOUR_USERNAME]/allactivity
Is there a pattern?
posted by mkultra at 2:27 PM on February 8, 2012
Response by poster: I hate to disappoint guys, but I don't have any apps. At all. (Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.)
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 4:00 PM on February 8, 2012
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 4:00 PM on February 8, 2012
Response by poster: And: the pages being liked are SEO-spammy or in other languages than English, which ticks my malware radar.
And it's just me and the partner here, and I don't think she's clicking like on VIRTUAL FASHION SOLUTIONS or whatever just to mess with me.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 4:03 PM on February 8, 2012
And it's just me and the partner here, and I don't think she's clicking like on VIRTUAL FASHION SOLUTIONS or whatever just to mess with me.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 4:03 PM on February 8, 2012
Given that you're not clicking on spammy clickjack links and don't have any FB Apps, this smells like a worm / trojan infection on your PC: If it's worth some people's while to accumulate Facebook "Likes" on specific Pages then criminal gangs will sell them by the bucket load.
They could either be using infected PCs to auto-click Likes when the PC owner is logged into Facebook or alternatively they may be simply sniffing the Facebook password & then using it to log in to Facebook from somewhere else. You could check the latter by going to Account Settings -> Security -> Active Sessions & see if there are any, but I imagine the perpetrators will keep the log in period as short as possible. You could turn on Login notifications to see if anyone is logging in from somewhere else perhaps.
It's more likely that the updates are coming from a Trojan on your own PC though.
posted by pharm at 6:10 AM on February 9, 2012
They could either be using infected PCs to auto-click Likes when the PC owner is logged into Facebook or alternatively they may be simply sniffing the Facebook password & then using it to log in to Facebook from somewhere else. You could check the latter by going to Account Settings -> Security -> Active Sessions & see if there are any, but I imagine the perpetrators will keep the log in period as short as possible. You could turn on Login notifications to see if anyone is logging in from somewhere else perhaps.
It's more likely that the updates are coming from a Trojan on your own PC though.
posted by pharm at 6:10 AM on February 9, 2012
The demon that lives in the air: "I hate to disappoint guys, but I don't have any apps. At all. (Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.)"
Are you sure? Check Privacy Settings -> Apps and Websites.
posted by mkultra at 8:27 AM on February 9, 2012
Are you sure? Check Privacy Settings -> Apps and Websites.
posted by mkultra at 8:27 AM on February 9, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by astapasta24 at 12:38 PM on February 8, 2012 [1 favorite]