Fact Check

'Visit the New Facebook' Virus Warning

Rumor: A hacker is stealing personal info by spreading messages with links to 'Visit the New Facebook.'

Published May 16, 2011

Claim:

Claim:   Messages containing the words "Visit the New Facebook" include links that give a hacker access to your Facebook account.


FALSE


Examples:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2011]


ATTN!!! THIS NOTICE IS DIRECTED TO EVERYONE WHO HAS A PAGE ON FACEBOOK: IF SOME PEOPLE IN YOUR PROFILE OR YOUR FRIENDS SEND YOU A LINK WITH WORDS "VISIT THE NEW FACEBOOK ' AND THERE IS THE LINK BELOW, DO NOT OPEN! IF YOU OPEN IT YOU CAN SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR PAGE. IT'S A HACKER WHO STEALS YOUR DETAILS AND REMOVES YOU FROM YOUR OWN PAGE.
 

W A R N I N G ! ! ! ! THIS NOTICE IS DIRECTED TO ANYONE WHO HAS A FACEBOOK
ACCOUNT: IF SOMEONE IN YOUR PROFILE OR A FRIEND SENDS YOU A LINK THAT SAYS
"VISIT THE NEW FACEBOOK", DO NOT OPEN. . . IF YOU DO, YOU CAN SAY GOODBYE
TO YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE! THIS IS ACTUALLY THE WORK OF A HACKER WHO STEALS
YOUR DETAILS AND REMOVES YOU PERMANENTLY FROM YOUR OWN PAGE. PLEASE
COPY.....send to your groups too....not just your friends


 

Origins:   The warning reproduced above about Facebook users being tricked into opening an attachment that promises access to "the new Facebook" but

instead allows a hacker to steal their information and lock them out of their pages began spreading via Facebook posts and e-mail in mid-May 2011 and has continued to circulate in sporadic bursts ever since.

This warning is nothing more than a hoax spread by well-meaning but credulous Facebook users: there have been no recorded instances of "Visit the new Facebook" come-ons containing malicious links of any kind (only warnings about such messages) and none of the major computer security/anti-virus software companies has reported users' actually encountering Facebook info-stealing malware that reached them in such fashion.

Last updated:   17 May 2015

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.