File photo. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)

File photograph. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic) (Dado Ruvic / Reuters,Fotoware/ColorFactory)

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Facebook has changed the way people do a lot of things online. For case, you probably observe yourself reflexively clicking "similar" on anything your friends mail on Facebook, even if it's but to acknowledge you saw it. Scammers are taking advantage of that reflex for a dangerous scam chosen "similar-farming."

What is like-farming?

Like-farming is when scammers post an attention-grabbing story on Facebook for the express purpose of cultivating likes and shares. Based on the way Facebook works, the more likes and shares a post has, the more than probable it is to testify up in people's News Feeds.

Like farming works because the average Facebook user doesn't know any better. They recollect, "What does it injure to merely like something?" But, information technology can hurt you personally, and others. These posts and pages are frequently used to spread malware, or equally a phishing scam to collect your personal data. That information is then used for further scams and tin be
sold on the black market. Information technology's a style for scammers to piece of work around Facebook's algorithm, and put malicious code in front of more people.

This gives the scammer more than eyeballs for posts that send people to malicious downloads or fob them into providing information. The big question, of grade, is why Facebook doesn't stop these posts before they get too large. And that'south where the real scam comes in.

How the scam works

Scammers have plant a simple way to fly under the radar during the early phases of their operation. The story they originally mail service to Facebook has nothing dangerous about it. It'south just a regular story that anyone might post.

Merely subsequently the post gets a certain number of likes and shares does the scammer edit it and add something malicious. In fact, if you get back through your history of liked posts, you might notice that some of them take changed to something you wouldn't have liked in a million years. By the way, if you lot're not sure how to review your likes, click hither for the pace-past-step instructions.

So, what kinds of stories do scammers start with to trick people into liking and sharing?

Posts that should give y'all interruption

1 pop type of story is the emotional i. You've definitely seen the posts that show rescue animals and ask you to like if you lot think they're cute. Or maybe information technology's a medical story where you're asked to like that the person was cured or to permit them know they're still beautiful after surgery.

There are also the posts that inquire for a like to bear witness that you're against something the authorities is doing, or that you lot disagree with something terrible happening in the earth. Or peradventure it'south the ones that say "If I get X number of likes, then something amazing will happen for me" or "I was challenged to get X number of likes."

Basically, whatever postal service that asks you to like it for emotional reasons, unless you lot know the person who created the original mail service, is quite probably a like-farming post.

Other types of scam posts to avoid

Emotional posts aren't the just ones yous demand to watch for. There are a lot of scams on Facebook, and most of them can exist used for like-farming. A popular one, for instance, asks you to similar or share so you lot tin can win something absurd. These pop up well-nigh oft when Apple launches a new iPhone or iPad.

Y'all might accept seen people posting on Facebook during the recent Powerball frenzy that anyone who liked their post would get a share of their winnings. How real practise you recall those were?

What about brain-teaser posts, such as the ones that have you like or share if you can read the words backwards or solve a tricky math trouble? Yep, those are often similar-farming posts, likewise.

And it isn't just posts; it can also be pages. A scammer might set upwards a folio for "I love puppies" or what appears to be a worthy company or system. It puts upward enough content to go a lot of likes, then switches the content to spam and scams. Once you've liked the folio, everything new the scammers put up goes on your News Feed – and in some cases your friends' feeds too.

How to avoid like-farming

Your best bet to avoid like-farming is to be very judicious about what you similar and share on Facebook. Don't just reflexively click "like" on everything. Accept a look at where the post is coming from. If it'due south from someone you don't recognize, information technology could be a friend of a friend or information technology could be a complete stranger. It would be adept to detect out.

Notice the content and whether information technology promises anything for liking or sharing. If it does, it's a good clue that it's a scam of some kind. The same goes if you feel pushed or pressured into clicking like or share. Click here for 5 Facebook scams that continue to spread like wildfire.

Don't forget that, in the terminate, minimizing your likes is more than but a good security measure. Information technology likewise reduces the clutter in your friends' news feeds, and their ataxia in yours, so you can all spend more time seeing the actually important posts. That's a win-win for anybody.

Desire another fashion to reduce clutter in your news feed? Follow these uncomplicated steps to see only what you desire.

And since we're talking virtually likes, do you lot know how the 2016 election would plough out if Facebook likes were votes? You
can find out the surprising, or not-so-surprising, respond correct here.

Finally, there is i like button you should press to get news and updates to stay ahead of the game in your digital life. Head over to my Facebook page and like me at Facebook.com/KimKomando.

On the Kim Komando Bear witness, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today'south digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more than, visit her website at Komando.com. Kim also posts breaking tech news 24/7 at News.Komando.com.