Facebook Help Center Flooded with “Online Streaming” Spam

Facebook’s Help Center is once again flooded with all sorts of shady messages which advertise live online streaming services.
Posts such as “Barcelona vs Real Madrid Live Stream Online EL Classico 2012 On HDTV” are all over the help center, but the Search section of the Community Forum appears to be the most affected.

Legitimate posts are almost impossible to identify among the tens of shady posts which attempt to lure users to website that allegedly offer free streaming for sporting events.

The promoted sites try to trick unsuspecting users into purchasing subscriptions for live streaming services that can worth as much as $50 (€40).

The payments are done via ClickBank Marketplace, a secure online retail outlet, and the payment page is actually well protected, vouched for by Symantec, McAfee and TRUSTe. 

However, this doesn’t mean anything else but the fact that the payment will safely make it to the crooks’ accounts. Users should know that a secure payment method doesn’t necessarily vouch for a service’s legitimacy. 

A similar campaign was recorded back in November 2011 and judging by the fact that the same types of websites were advertised, it would be safe to say that the same group of spammers was behind theflood.

Unfortunately, such incidents demonstrate that Facebook is still a long way from offering its customers a spam-free environment. Of course, in an era in which such campaigns can earn impressive amounts of money for those who launch them, the task is nearly impossible to accomplish. 

On the other hand, this particular spam campaign has been active for almost 24 hours now and Facebook representatives still haven’t managed to contain it.

While this is sorted out, customers of the social media network are advised to be cautious when navigating the Help Center’s Community Forum.