Facebook Scam: ‘I Just Got My Hillbilly Name!’ App Will Spam Everyone in Your Network

The reason why cybercriminals target Facebook users for their scams is simple: the social network has close to a billion users who log on and interact on the site every month. The probability of more people actually falling for their scams goes up if they have a larger pool of prospective targets to work with.

These scams range from slightly amusing to absolutely ridiculous, like the "Do You Remember This Photo?" scam (read about it here) and the non-existent video of a fake rollercoaster accident in California (read about it here).

The latest one to join the growing list of Facebook scams is the "I Just Got My Hillbilly Name!" app. It takes advantages of click-happy users who just seem to want to click on every single link or recommendation they see on the social network. 

This particular scam spreads by displaying an image of a cartoon hillbilly along with the following text: "I just got my hillbilly name! Hilarious!! Get your hillbilly name! CLICK –>" It's followed by a link that directs to a Facebook app page, which asks the user to click on the "Allow" button to give permission to the app to post stuff in behalf of the user. Once clicked, all hell breaks loose as post upon post is published on the walls of other people, directing them to the same spammy app.

A quick word of advice: don't go around installing every app you see on Facebook and never click on suspicious-looking links. 

Article by Hazel Chua
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