Virus: "New Gifts for You"
Examples: [Collected via e-mail, August 2010]
THERE IS A VIRUS GOING THROUGH OUR COMMENTS. IT WILL START SENDING LINKS IN YOUR NAME. IT SAYS "I KNOW YOU WILL LIKE THIS" OR "LOOKING FOR SOME FUN". THEN IT HAS A PAGE LINK SAYING "NEW GIFTS FOR YOU". DO NOT OPEN THIS LINK. THEY ARE POPPING UP EVERYWHERE!! PLEASE COPY and put on your status and HELP WARN those in your circle!!
Origins: The above-referenced warning about the "New Gifts for You" virus began spreading via Facebook posts in August 2010, with those posts claiming that the virus manifested itself by going through Facebook comments and sending out messages in the Facebook account holder's name, using provocative subject lines such as "I know you will like this" and "Looking for some fun" in order to lure
recipients into clicking on the enclosed link (one which promises "New gifts for you" but instead infects the user's computer with the virus).
However, this warning seems to be nothing more than a hoax spread by well-meaning but credulous Facebook users. None of the major computer security/anti-virus software companies have reported any users' encountering malware which reached them in such a fashion, and despite the claim that the virus is being spread through links that "are popping up everywhere," the only places the referenced phrases (i.e., "I know you will like this," "Looking for some fun," and "New Gifts for You") are appearing on the Internet in relation to a supposed virus is in posts or forwarded
Last updated: 25 August 2010