Is This Really Fake?! Facebook Phishing Site Alert!

Another type of phishing attack on Facebook was discovered with the intention to steal user credentials. This attack uses a website that is almost identical to Facebook and concerns have been raised about the scale of the potential damage.

[Figure 1] Facebook Phishing Site

The attack is distinguished from similar phishing attacks seeking to steal account credentials by how it uses a fake online advertising network to lure users to access to a fake Facebook website. When a user clicks on the advertisement, they are directed to a fake Facebook website as shown in [Figure 1], instead of the advertiser's website. 

This forged website is very sophisticated and at first glance it does not look suspicious at all. However, its URL shown in [Figure 2], shows that the address is different from the genuine Facebook website. The problem is that the most users rarely check the address bar because they habitually click on URLs contained in ads, websites, or emails to connect to the website. This is why even local portal sites are a good target for phishing attacks and not only Facebook. 

[Figure 2] Address of the Phishing Website (Top) and Address of the Genuine Facebook Website (Bottom)

The attacker also crafted an elaborate scam by redirecting the user to Google (www.google.com) after stealing their account information. 

When a user enters their credentials on a fake Facebook site, the information is sent to the attacker's server. The transmitted information includes sensitive personal information, such as the user's username, password, and accessed region. Extra precautions are required by users as the leaked account information could lead to secondary crimes, such as Facebook hacking, messenger phishing, and hacking on other online website accounts.