Another scam on Facebook is a group protesting the supposed decision by Facebook to charge a monthly fee to use the site. I got an invitation the other day from a friend to join the group "I Will Not Pay $3.99/Month To Use Facebook Starting July 2010."
I just checked on it, and found this article at Snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/fbcharge.aspFacebook Charge
Claim: Facebook plans to institute a $4.99/month charge in June 2010.
FALSE
Examples:
[Collected via e-mail, December 2009]
There is a website that has over 83,000 members of people protesting the following...
WE'RE AGAINST THE 4.99 A MONTH CHARGE FOR FACEBOOK FROM JUNE 30TH 2010
See website here...
[URL removed]
_______________________________________________
[Collected via e-mail, February 2010]
NO! I WILL NOT PAY $3.99/MONTH TO USE FACEBOOKK STARTING JULY 9, 2010! JOIN.
[URL removed]
Origins: In late December 2009, Facebook users were hit with yet another hoax when messages began circulating advising them that on 30 June 2010 the popular social networking site would be instituting a monthly charge of $4.99 and entreating them to visit a particular Facebook group supposedly set up to protest the impending charge.
The protest page was a trap for the unwary; clicking on certain elements of it initiated a script that hijacked users' computers. Some of those who did venture a click had their computers taken over by a series of highly objectionable images while malware simultaneously attempted to install itself onto their computers.
Within days, a counter message was circulating by e-mail and among Facebook users:
WARNING: DO NOT JOIN the group We are against paying $4.99 for Facebook - IT's A VIRUS AND haqer! There are extremely graphic images at the website they suggest you visit. FACEBOOK has no plans on charging us. ELIMINATE THIS GROUP from your groups & run your spyware ASAP. REPOST THIS AS YOUR STATUS on your Profile. Thanks
In February 2010, another Facebook hoax page was created to protest the purported impending monthly charge, that time said to be a monthly $3.99 fee that would begin on 9 July 2010.
The claim that Facebook would be initiating user charges was but the bait to lure people to the protest page and its hidden malicious payload — as far as we can ascertain, there are no plans afoot to require payment from those who use the site. Regarding the issue of whether Facebook would ever charge users for its social networking services, that company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, said in an April 2009 Business Week interview that: "The answer is no, we are not planning on charging a basic fee for our basic services. Once again, that question stems from people thinking we're growing so quickly, we're running out of money. We're growing really quickly, but we can finance that growth. We're not going to charge for our basic services."
Barbara "FB eye" Mikkelson
Last updated: 13 February 2010
So if you get an invite to join this group, DON'T!!!
