File photo. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)

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

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Facebook has inverse the style people practice a lot of things online. For example, you probably detect yourself reflexively clicking "like" on anything your friends post on Facebook, even if information technology's but to acknowledge y'all saw it. Scammers are taking advantage of that reflex for a unsafe scam called "like-farming."

What is like-farming?

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

Similar farming works because the average Facebook user doesn't know any better. They think, "What does it hurt to merely like something?" Merely, it tin hurt you personally, and others. These posts and pages are often used to spread malware, or as a phishing scam to collect your personal information. That information is then used for further scams and tin can be
sold on the blackness market place. It's a way for scammers to work around Facebook's algorithm, and put malicious code in front end of more people.

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

How the scam works

Scammers have found a unproblematic manner to fly nether the radar during the early phases of their operation. The story they originally postal service to Facebook has nil dangerous near it. It'south just a regular story that anyone might post.

Simply later the post gets a sure number of likes and shares does the scammer edit it and add something malicious. In fact, if you go back through your history of liked posts, you might find that some of them accept changed to something you wouldn't have liked in a one thousand thousand years. By the way, if you're not certain how to review your likes, click hither for the footstep-past-pace instructions.

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

Posts that should give y'all pause

One popular blazon of story is the emotional one. You've definitely seen the posts that show rescue animals and ask yous to like if you think they're cute. Or perhaps information technology'due south a medical story where you're asked to similar that the person was cured or to let them know they're nonetheless cute later on surgery.

There are also the posts that inquire for a like to show that you're against something the regime is doing, or that you disagree with something terrible happening in the world. Or maybe it's the ones that say "If I become Ten number of likes, then something amazing will happen for me" or "I was challenged to become X number of likes."

Basically, whatsoever post that asks you to similar it for emotional reasons, unless you 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 only ones you need to watch for. There are a lot of scams on Facebook, and most of them can exist used for like-farming. A popular 1, for example, asks you to like or share so you can win something cool. These popular upward virtually often when Apple launches a new iPhone or iPad.

You might take 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 do you recall those were?

What nigh brain-teaser posts, such equally the ones that take you like or share if you can read the words backwards or solve a tricky math trouble? Yep, those are oft similar-farming posts, too.

And it isn't just posts; it tin likewise exist pages. A scammer might ready a page for "I love puppies" or what appears to be a worthy company or organization. It puts up enough content to get a lot of likes, then switches the content to spam and scams. Once you've liked the page, everything new the scammers put upwards goes on your News Feed – and in some cases your friends' feeds as well.

How to avoid similar-farming

Your all-time bet to avoid like-farming is to be very judicious almost what you similar and share on Facebook. Don't but reflexively click "similar" on everything. Take a look at where the post is coming from. If it'due south from someone you lot don't recognize, it could exist a friend of a friend or information technology could exist a complete stranger. Information technology would be good to find out.

Notice the content and whether information technology promises anything for liking or sharing. If it does, it'south a practiced 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 proceed to spread like wildfire.

Don't forget that, in the end, minimizing your likes is more than than only a expert security measure. It also reduces the clutter in your friends' news feeds, and their clutter in yours, and so y'all can all spend more time seeing the really of import posts. That'southward a win-win for everyone.

Want another mode to reduce clutter in your news feed? Follow these simple steps to see only what you desire.

And since we're talking near likes, do you know how the 2016 election would plow out if Facebook likes were votes? You lot
tin can detect out the surprising, or not-so-surprising, respond right hither.

Finally, at that place is one like push 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 Evidence, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com. Kim also posts breaking tech news 24/7 at News.Komando.com.