I noticed something fishy on Facebook a couple minutes ago. A few of my friends posted this message on their profile update on Facebook, via their mobile phone.
I’m 8 1/2 pounds lighter thanks to the FREE trial pack of this new colon cleanser that I got! visit ExpressColon.net to get yours! efO
There are variants of this message. The bulk of the message, including the site’s name, is the same, except the last three letters. A Google search of the site does not return any results. A simple search on the popular online social network site returns several hits. And these profile updates were made within the past 2 hours or so. My conclusion would be that this update were done without the author’s knowledge and could be a potential virus on the mobile phone.
Looking at the profiles, it seems that the mobile phone affected is an iPhone. Well, I’ll need to double confirm this as soon as I manage to contact them. Could this be the first iPhone viral infection?
55 responses so far ↓
1 me // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:05 pm
not only iPhone, mine is samsung and i got affected too! luckily my friend told me that my Facebook got virus and i quickly changed my password and all. hope it doesnt come back!
2 Michael // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:06 pm
same happend to my girlfriend, and she dont even have a phone capable to use internet connection with..very strange!?
3 Niz // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Ah! this exact thing happened to me too about an hour ago. I use facebook on my iPhone sometimes. What it could be on the iPhone?
4 Niz // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Is this a security hole in mobile facebook? or some trojan/keylogger in iPhone?
5 Long // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:25 pm
my facebook account (my status) has been updated by someone else, with this message ” I’m 8 1/2 pounds lighter thanks to the FREE trial pack of this new colon cleanser that I got! visit ExpressColon.net to get yours! uhO”
I’ve no Iphone, but a blackberry 7700.
Watch out this new virus, or hacking fishy shit !
6 jan // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:32 pm
i just gotten this status update w/o my consent. But i don’t own iphone, and the last time i logged on facebook using phone was on my friend’s iphone 2 months ago…
7 Shem // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:35 pm
This happened to me also - but my app is Windows Mobile. Guessing it’s some kind of mobile API hack, as I’m sure I haven’t fallen for a phishing scam
8 Dani // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I have the same problem…It appeared in my facebook as a comment that I made on my wall…everything else is erased on my profile.
I erased it from my mobile phone. What else can I do?
9 Ernesto // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:38 pm
This is happening to me exactly as you describe it, but I do not have a facebook-enabled cellphone. It cannot be the phone that’s infected, it must be something else.
10 Nick // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:43 pm
omg i got this as well. i think maybe it went through the ipod touch. i was shocked to see that msg. its like someone logged into my account.
11 lembe // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:48 pm
yes, same here. it is a virus, but i do not know more. hope MY iphone doesn’t get fucked.. i don’t want to lose 8 1/2 pounds, höhö.
12 Shem // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:50 pm
In fact, looking at my settings, only Skyfire and Friendbar have access to change my Status…
13 Robino // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:58 pm
2 of my fiends have it - I know for sure one of them uses a blackberry…
I’ve just called him to let him know!
14 Simon // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:06 am
I’ve got a Sony Ericsson C905 and apparently I just updated my profile update with that exact line..
15 Jo // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:20 am
Hi there,
My friend just had that problem too, and he does not own an Iphone, therefore I would reckon that it touches laptops too. could it be a virus integrated in Facebook ?
16 koky // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:21 am
yes i noticed the same too, with my friends who use iphone
17 Oivind // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:22 am
I just noticed the same. Investigating.
18 Will // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:22 am
Seen a few people with this over the past few days. Don’t think it’s an iPhone issue though, some of the people I’ve seen it happen to don’t even use facebook on their phone.
19 Guy // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:29 am
It affected me too! Buy I don’t have the mobile application.. I just got into facebook this morning from my PC and the status was there! :S
Someone please confirm the is this!
20 Noha // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:29 am
my dads account just did the same thing an hour ago!! but his phones are nokia communicator and samsung (touch phone dont remember model) how do we remove this?? is it on the or the computer? poor dad
21 Hello // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:46 am
Hi!
Sometimes it happens even without using any mobile connection, is very strange. I hope some answer soon.
22 Nuno Covas // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:50 am
Happened to me and some of my friends who use Facebook for Windows Mobile, though I’m no sure whether other versions are affected as well.
Need to have a good look at it..
23 andrew // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:53 am
Just found your post from google blog search. I was thinking the same thing. And on my iPhone, in the facebook app, I noticed that the newsfeed is blank. So looks like fb folks are trying to combat it, if your hypothesis is correct.
24 Tom // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:00 am
I noticed this just now on Facebook. One of my friends just posted the same message, last three letters MEL. Not sure whether they used an iPhone as it just says facebook mobile.
25 Simon Green // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:03 am
Yes i have noticed this too 1 today from Sweden and yesterday from UK both from mobiles so it could be the iphone
26 Pop and Ice // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:08 am
The Newsfeed for FaceBook Mobile for the iPhone has been out for over an hour. Didn’t notice any weird postings when I checked friends individually. Wonder what’s going on?
27 Tracy // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:18 am
I noticed the same thing on a friends status, uploaded mobily, and she doesn’t even have a cell of any kind!!
28 A Non iMouse // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:26 am
My friend just posted this spam message, (hey, you’re the first google result now!) and she doesn’t have an iPhone.
29 Smokey // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:28 am
hello, i just saw this message on my facebook site. i also have an iphone 3g so it might be caused by this? what experiences do you have guys? and what can we do about it?
cheers
30 Mat // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:34 am
I’ve noticed this too.
It doesn’t appear to be an actual phone update though. It’s coming from ” Mobile Web” and none of my contacts have iPhones and have varying phone platforms.
I’m assuming one of the apps got usernames and passwords, but I’m not sure which one.
31 seba // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:36 am
I have this problem myself, but I don’t even have a mobile that can access internet. It seems to be a leak in the mobile app, so someone can post under anybody’s account
32 Emily // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:53 am
My friend just posted this and she has a BlackBerry so I am not sure that it’s isolated to iPhones.
33 darko // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:55 am
happened to me too… got this message ” I lost 8 1/2 pounds in only 2 weeks with this new pill! visit ExpressColon.net to get your free trial pack! TuW” however, I do not use iPhone, but Nokia E71
34 Max // Oct 4, 2009 at 1:59 am
Just to let you know: I’ve been affected by this too, and I have a blackberry (no iphone)
35 Quela // Oct 4, 2009 at 2:21 am
It happened to my account as well except it said Wiz instead of efO at the end. I deleted everything off my iPhone and restored it. I’m hoping that works. This is so very disappointing. The only new app I have downloaded in Ping. I wonder if they are related?
36 Ryan Shirk // Oct 4, 2009 at 2:41 am
My Blackberry just started doing this today.
37 Daniel // Oct 4, 2009 at 3:11 am
I noticed the same thing! A friend had that as his status and it’s something he’d never write - Must be a virus. Not sure what phone he uses
38 Kevin C. // Oct 4, 2009 at 3:14 am
I was just hit! My timeline seems all screwy, too. I don’t have anyone updating their statuses since yesterday and I know that can’t be right.
39 Quela // Oct 4, 2009 at 3:23 am
I think the Pinger app has something to do with this. I downloaded the app via iTunes this morning and then I got the weird status update. Now Pinger is showing up as an External Website Link. I went to Edit Settings and what do you know. Pinger has permission to: “Access my data even when I’m not using the application” &
“Publish recent activity (one line stories) to my wall” I never set this up.
40 Quela // Oct 4, 2009 at 3:27 am
I take it back it’s not Pinger it’s PING
41 Brian McCauley // Oct 4, 2009 at 5:31 am
A friend of mine was affected. I’ll ask if he has an iPhone.
42 Blognya Abi Fathir Rabbani » New virus changing Facebook status into spam message // Oct 4, 2009 at 9:58 am
[…] http://tech.firdooze.com/2009/10/03/new-virus-on-mobile-phone-targeting-facebook/ […]
43 Kari // Oct 4, 2009 at 10:44 am
Hi there,
I don’t have an Iphone or use mobile update and yet this has affected my facebook account. It started last night. One post was made and it has made another one today. Any way of getting rid of it??
44 Dave // Oct 4, 2009 at 10:45 am
I know people who don’t own or access an Iphone who have been affected by this virus. I think it “pretends” to be posted from a phone.
45 Heather // Oct 4, 2009 at 2:04 pm
This keeps being posted as a status message on my site, but i don’t access my site via a mobile phone, but it says it was posted via facebook mobile and i’ve changed the password and checked all my app’s and ran virus scana and spyware scans….. ideas?
I’m 8 1/2 pounds lighter thanks to the FREE trial pack of this new colon cleanser that I got! visit ExpressColon.net to get yours! MOw
46 Boris Valkov // Oct 4, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I think it’s more of a security flaw in facebook rather than the iphone. I don’t use an iphone, nor any mobile device to connect to facebook yet I still get the same status message set on my profile and it’s still said to be set ‘using mobile internet’…
It’s starting to get on my nerves though… And it seems it’s spreading more and more
47 maria // Oct 4, 2009 at 6:02 pm
my sister who is intoi super natural products had this come through via her phone to facebook.she does not need to lose weight so i thought it was suspicious!!
48 ecuabron // Oct 4, 2009 at 11:10 pm
mine’s a N79, and I started using NIMBUZZ right before I started using this? anyone else using nimbuzz?
49 ecuabron // Oct 4, 2009 at 11:22 pm
…also facebook on msn, netvibes and fring all of them connected fo facebook anyone else>
50 Rei // Oct 5, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Change your password. It’s probably not a virus so much as a phishing scam (most likely a false login page) that you fell for.
51 Pau // Oct 5, 2009 at 6:06 pm
To write a status in facebook it isn’t necessary to do it in your own mobile device or your computer, they only need you login and pass. So if you have conected in somewhere that could be affected by a troyan or something like that it’s enough.
The fact that it’s a mobile device doesn’t mean that you have a mobile infected, it’s only the way this people write in your account.
I would try to change my password, and to delete some of the last external applications.
Good luck!
52 YJ // Oct 9, 2009 at 6:56 am
Hi, Is your profile public? and… you have set your phone number as public? I think is the same problem like Twitter and fake SMS. You can impersonate other phone number and send fake status updates. It’s a very known problem in Twitter and its SMS updates
53 Ses SDA // Dec 8, 2009 at 8:59 am
It is probably a computer virus
You can fake a phone update by typing
http://m.facebook.com/ into your browser. from there everything typed in is said to have come from the mobile domain. Try it yourself
If a virus is responsible that will be how it is doing it … it also explains how numerous people without internet enabled phones are being told that they uploaded the the message from their phone.
It is probably a ploy to get you to concentrate on yout phones and not bother looking at your computhers where the problem actually is. Update and run your anti viruses people.
54 Kvist // Jan 5, 2010 at 3:16 am
Re: Ses SDA
I’m fairly sure it’s not a virus or something that’s resident on the computer. My girlfriend just sent out the following message to all her friends on facebook, but not all at once, but grouped together 10 at a time. The message was as follows:
“Alexandra wanted me to pass this on to you BINSSERVICESSITE .INFO”
Her Anti-virus is AVG Free 9.x and she’s also running Spybot - Search & Destroy, both updated. Neither finds anything on her computer.
I’ve also scanned it with NMAP to find suspicious open ports but find nothing. Outgoing connections to IRC is blocked in our firewall so it’s unlikely that it’s a trojan or anything connecting using IRC.
What bugs me is that I can’t find anything concrete on this anywhere. I want to know what’s happening and why. As someone mentioned above it’s probably more likely that she fell for a phising scam so now we changed her password everywhere, to diffrent passwords on every place.
I’ll report back in a while to let you know if that helped.
55 Kvist // Jan 5, 2010 at 3:36 am
I forgot to say that the message was “Sent via Facebook Mobile”, though her cell phone is really old and not capable of surfing/browsing.
She’s very sure she didn’t fall for any phising scam so what’s left is the facebook applications. My eyes still hurt from looking at her page with authorized apps, 110+. She’s removing apps at the moment.
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