Hoax message circulating among Facebook users warns that accepting friend requests from members named Linda Smith, Jason Lee, Jason Allen, or Amy Allen will cause a virus to be downloaded to your computer. This is just more mindless junk that mindless people believe and post on their facebook pages. IT’S A HOAX!
Description: Facebook virus hoax
Circulating since: April 2011 – again Dec 2011
Status: TOTALLY False
Example #1:
Facebook posting submitted by Ann S., June 30, 2011:
ALL FACEBOOK USERS**… DO NOT ADD *JASON ALLEN*, LINDA SMITH, OR JASON LEE, ALSO IF SOMEBODY CALLED *AMY ALLEN* ADDS YOU, DON’T ACCEPT… IT IS A VIRUS. TELL EVERYBODY, BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST ADDS THEM, YOU GET THE VIRUS TOO. **COPY AND PASTE AND PLEASE RE POST* THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY FACEBOOK AND SNOPES
Example #2:
As posted on Facebook, June 30, 2011:
ALL FRIENDS. DO NOT ADD JASON ALLEN, LINDA SMITH, OR JASON LEE. ALSO IF SOMEONE CALLED “AMY ALLEN” ADDS YOU, DON’T ACCEPT. IT IS A VIRUS. TELL EVERYONE, BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST ADDS THEM, YOU GET THE VIRUS TOO. *COPY AND PASTE AND PLEASE RE POST* THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY FACEBOOK AND SNOPES. AMY ALLEN IS IN FACT MONICA PULLEN’S ACCOUNT & HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AS A HACKERS ACCOUNT…
Example #3:
As posted on Facebook, April 13, 2011:
There is a VIRUS going around on face book. Do not add Linda Smith or Jason Lee to your face book. If you do you will get the VIRUS. THIS IS NO JOKE. Be careful.
Example #4:
Facebook posting submitted by Kathy G., April 11, 2011:
ATTENTION **ALL FACEBOOK USERS** .. DO NOT ADD “LINDA SMITH”, also IF SOMEBODY CALLED “JASON LEE”, ADDS YOU, DON’T ACCEPT IT.. IT IS A VIRUS. TELL EVERYBODY, BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST ADDS THEM, YOU GET THE VIRUS TOO. ****COPY AND PASTE AND PLEASE RE POST***** THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY FACEBOOK.
Analysis: Nothing of the sort has been “confirmed” by Facebook, nor have Internet security sites issued any alerts about a virus threat connected with the names “Linda Smith,” “Jason Lee,” “Jason Allen,” or “Amy Allen.” Like so many warnings replicated across Facebook by earnest users, this is a hoax.
“Friends may be well-intentioned in passing on warnings,” writes Sophos.com technology consultant Graham Cluley, “but it’s always good to check your facts before forwarding them any further.”
One reliable place to check the facts is the Sophos.com Facebook page, which alerts members to real security threats as well as bogus ones.
