Facebooks Fan Check App Might Be a Virus
Word has spread through Facebook that the popular Fan Check application may actually be a virus. Many Facebook users who have downloaded the application have made complaints that their accounts were being hacked and sending unintentional messages to their contacts.
The application, which became available only recently, monitors the friends that comment on your wall or photos the most, and ranks them from highest to lowest. Shortly after it became available on the social networking site, groups already began forming asking for Facebook to ban the new application and warning fellow users not to download it.
PC World reports “Malicious hackers are setting up malware-infested Web sites that falsely claim to remove a virus from a new Facebook application called Fan Check, security vendor Sophos is warning…. Facebook members use popular search engines to find antivirus information about Fan Check, they are getting results that point to sites that can infect their computers with malware.”
The creator of the app, Janakan Arulkumarasa, defended the application saying it “is NOT a malicious app. Unfortunately, some malicious developers have been spreading a lie that it is – and encouraging people to download fake virus scanning software, which damages their computer. This is very unfortunate, but has nothing to do with us.”
Unfortunately, despite the author’s testimony, the amount of users of the app dropped from 12.6 million to just 6.4 million in just a few days.
It is obvious that Facebook would not make an intentional application to harm its users. But there are however, people out there who are undoubtedly seeking to take advantage of these sites, whether or not Janakan himself is trying to take advantage of Facebook users is yet to be determined. In the meanwhile, the best advice would be to stay away from the application until they work this mess out.
(Via Horizons Blog)
