Anything that becomes popular with people, also becomes the target of cyber-criminals and they start spreading malware on that platform or service. Facebook is no exception and every now and then crooks use this social network to serve their malware loaded links, phishing sites and for other malicious objectives. These days a new threat is on the rise on facebook called Facebook Color Changer. Designed to look like a legitimate faceook app, it promises the users to change the facebook color theme but instead all it does is redirect them to malicious websites. If the facebook user is on a desktop computer then it redirects to a video site with a video component download (malware), and if you are on Android, then it shows a rogueware download link (malware in disguise of an antivirus).
Best thing to do when you see the Facebook Color Changer app scam on your friends’ timeline is to ignore this scam as well as inform your friends about this malware. But if you have already fallen victim to this scam, then you can follow these steps to protect yourself from further damage:
- First of all visit your facebook page and open the settings page. You can do so by typing https://facebook.com/settings/ in your web browser and pressing Go or Enter.
- You need to change your facebook password. Select the Password option and click on the Edit next to it. Type old and new passwords. If you find it difficult to think of a good password, then you can use the Norton Password Generator to generate a strong password for you and use that as your new password.
- Next you have to remove the Facebook Color Changer app’s access to your account. To do this, select the Apps section on the facebook settings page. Locate the Facebook Color Changer app (it may be worded differently) from the list of all the Apps you use and click on the small X next to the Edit.
- You would be shown a prompt by facebook asking you whether you want to remove this app from you facebook profile – choose Remove and it will be removed.
- Scan your Windows computer for malware using the free ESET Online Scanner to find and remove any possible malware that were downloaded. In case of the mobile Android devices, you can use the free CM Security app to scan and clean your devices.
Facebook Color Changer is just one of the many malware that are targeting the social networking sites. You should always be prepared for such scams on facebook and other social networks and keep a good antivirus installed on your devices to protect yourself from these malicious apps and links.