Logins for sale: be wary of Facebook friends in need

Logins for sale: be wary of Facebook friends in need:


Facebook users may not consider their accounts to be worth anything on the black market, but a group of 1.5 million logins are currently being hawked by scammers. According to a new report from VeriSign's iDefense, a scammer going by the name of "Kirllos" claims to have gathered the login information for one out of every 300 Facebook users and is trying to sell the accounts to others. The incident is just a reminder that social networking users can't just ignore strangers anymore—they should be able to recognize a phishing attempt from a "friend" when they see it.

VeriSign says that Kirllos appears to have already sold some 700,000 Facebook accounts, asking for between $25 and $45 per thousand accounts (the higher amount is for users who have more friends). That means your account could go for almost five whole cents (don't let it all go to your head!). As noted by IDG, this is obviously quite low—bank account credentials can go for hundreds of dollars, while e-mail logins can go for up to $20 per account.