Facebook Scam Alert: Facebook Profile Spy – Updated Jan 3

Profile Spy Scam

Profile Spy Scam

There is another scam floating around Facebook the past few days, offering to send you a notification every time someone views your profile. The group is called Profile Spy, and amazingly, it has built up almost half a million members in just a few days – 350,000 in the last 48 hours alone.

We strongly advise you NOT to join this group, let alone invite any of your friends to join either. The group has been set up by a child, about 16 years old (based on his profile stats), bragging that he wants 412,000 members by January 12th, “cuz dats my birthday”. His language alone should be a red flag that this is a farce.

Farce or not, what’s worrying about this is the “activation link” that you will supposedly receive once he reaches his goal. Since Profile Spy has been set up as a group, and not an application, this kid has the ability to email everyone who has joined, and include whatever malicious content he wishes in that email.

If you receive an email to your Facebook Inbox from Profile Spy, we strongly recommend you do NOT click it.

Here is the group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=209645259791
and now a second has appeared at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=225669324889

Here is some further proof this program is bogus:

1. The photo he uses as his spy proof above has been clearly forged. If you look closely, you will see cut and paste lines where he has supposedly had people view his profile.

2. The kid graduates high school in 2012. This makes him about 15-16, and very unlikely the developer of this sort of application.

3. It is not even set up as an application! If it truly integrated with Facebook, it would be useless to set it up as a group. It would need to be an application for it to be fully functional.

4. There is too much controversy right now about tracking profile views. Many users feel it is an invasion of privacy, as as such, reputable developers have left this mammoth idea alone.

Here is his instructions about what you must do to join:

 

Profile Spy Scam Instructions

Profile Spy Scam Instructions

 

Thanks to those who brought this group to our attention, and hopefully we helped a few of you make a more educated decision about joining.

 

UPDATED: JANUARY 1, 2010

 

As you will read below, we received a few comments from the creator of this group. He demanded we remove his picture; stating we did not have permission to use his name and photo, and that we didn’t have his parents permission.

Firstly, HE CHOSE to create the group with his name and photo, on a social group, making it public property. He also created that group under the assumption it was with parental knowledge and consent. I am sure Facebook will see it the same way.

He also claims to have created the group for fun because he was “bored”, and that I should have noticed that there was an update to the group once the goal of 412,000 members was met. He says no links will be sent.

However, here is the update he posted at 2pm EST, after we made our post yesterday:

Profile Spy Scam Update

Profile Spy Scam Update

As you can see from his own update, he STILL claims “the link WILL 100% be POSTED for EVERYONE” – the complete opposite of what he claims in his comments made below.

The new goal of the group is 2,121,121 – 250,000 have joined since we posted 24 hours ago.

The group has now turned into a spam site. He is posting links to videos and products for sale – to serve his own purpose. I find it extremely ironic that he is claiming we cannot legally post his name and picture without his parents consent because he is underage, yet the link he posts for an ebook available at Clickbank.com, requires you to be at least 18 years of age to sell :) Hmmmm…..

This kid needs to realize you can’t have it both ways…But with 2 million people joining, there will definitely be a few to fall for his childish antics….

 

UPDATED: JANUARY 3, 2010

 

The teenage creator of the Profile Spy group is at it again! Yesterday he actually had the nerve to post that he was thinking of deleting the group, because so many of us were “too immature to understand” that it had been created only for fun. He also went on to explain that there was no Profile Spy link and that there never was one coming. Unfortunately, before I could get a screenshot of that comment, he deleted all posts in the group, and changed his name. I assumed this was going to be the end of the group…. I was wrong.

The kid changed his actual name on Facebook, to Ramdon Person – unbelievable. I assume “ramdon” was used in place of “random”. The word ‘random’ most likely was caught in Facebooks name filters….lol

Starting 8 hours ago, he began reposting details on how to join, invite everyone, and the latest group member goal. Oh yes, and he also re-posted the link to some rap video – most likely a friend. Ironically, or not, that friend ALSO has a Profile Spy group located at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=225669324889

Here are the latest post screenshots (to preserve in case he changes again!)

Profile Spy NEW Instructions - Jan 3

Profile Spy NEW Instructions - Jan 3


Profile Spy Update - Jan 3

Profile Spy Update - Jan 3

 

What amazes me, is that not only have over 1.1 million people joined this group, but the fact Facebook has not yet shut it down, despite numerous scam reportings to them about it…

 

UPDATED: JANUARY 3, 2010 #2

 

The original group discussed above, along with the creator, has now been banned from Facebook :)

However, his friends’ group still remains:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=225669324889 – now banned

And, another deceptive one called Profile Watcher, is gathering steam with over 600,000 members…
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=219042609825

 

If you liked this tip, you can donate by buying us a beer! Any size would be appreciated with thanks!

 


Comments

52 Responses to “Facebook Scam Alert: Facebook Profile Spy – Updated Jan 3”
  1. i am the owner of this group and its not ment for people to get worried about it, it was made out of being bored and to see how many people join. i did not kno this many people would join. there will be NO LINKS SENT AT ALL. notice how i updated the goal after it was reached. also i want my picture and name taken off this website because i did not allow it.

    • also id like to say remove it because im underage and you need parents concent to post pictures of kids.

    • Joanne Dolles says:

      Strange Patrick, that you are so concerned about your name and photo, yet you created a group under FALSE pretenses, on a social media site, using your name and photo. That makes it all public property. We do not need your permission to post it in this case.

      However, since you have now removed your photo, we replaced ours with a new one as well. But, since your name and the false info you are spreading via your group remains, the details of our post will also remain.

      You are falsely claiming people will be able to view the details of who visited their profile – you know you cannot provide this info to anyone. If you are worried about legalities, you may want to consider the trouble you will find yourself into.

      Also, you are promoting a Clickbank product. Does Clickbank know you are underage? I somehow doubt that, because you would be then defrauding their terms and conditions of having an account there.

    • hammer says:

      get a life asshole

  2. Kelvin C. says:

    Amen.

    Too fraud for me to even join. I mean, look how badly edited and bad quality it is.

  3. David G says:

    Some of my friends have joined this and it is ver sad to say the least….Folks do not click on anything that is promising extra points for games on FB or things that promise you something for adding friends….these are just scams in the end… click carefully and do not be gullable

    • Wendy says:

      Do you know how to remove it from your groups? I never joined just looked at the page and it’s listed under my group like I’m a member.

      • Joanne Dolles says:

        If it appears on your group page, click on the group symbol, load the group page and then select Leave group from the left side menu.

  4. Billy says:

    I’ve devoted a group to explaining why these profile trackers don’t work. Not only is it very unlikely that the creators of these groups are capable of such applications, as the author here states, but it is also technically impossible to make a fully working tracker. Even if it were, Facebook would remove it since it goes against their policies.

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=212776147614

  5. Andrea says:

    There’s a new version out using the same picture.

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=278310815288

  6. Concerned_Citizen says:

    I would recommend Mark Zuerburg sends an email notification/ new feed notification, advising people to not accept any of these sites as they may be harmful. This would be the best way to get people to realise it is baloney.

    Some people have far roo much time on their hands…

  7. Steve says:

    Its still bouncing round – and is now oon

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=271502666536

    with a bit.ly link to a CPA site which demands you disable Adblock.

  8. jack says:

    another version gid=463711590248

  9. Mandy says:

    Another one, which tells you to post something shady in your address bar:

    http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=463711590248

  10. Sam Anne says:

    And yet another one – this time a girl who wants to ‘up’ her popularity and whose English language is also bad!!!!

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=201927306038&ref=nf#/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=201927306038

    • Joanne Dolles says:

      Yup. Looks like what she is actually doing is growing a membership base using the popular “profile spy” name in order to launch a Twitter traffic ads campaign…

  11. Nadeeshani says:

    I visit my group page. But can’t see the group called ” Who Visited Your Profile? Get a Notification Everytime! ” to leave it. But it appears on my profile. What can I do now? I want to leave this group. Please Help Me.

    Nadeeshani
    From Sri Lanka

  12. ACE says:

    I just received an invite to this one:

    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=271926728750

    I hope you get it taken down too…

  13. Christine says:

    He is still at it…

    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?v=wall&gid=271926728750

  14. Amanda says:

    I know this is a scam group but just becuase someone is 16 doesn’t mean they can’t be a sophisticated programmer – AGEISM! I know this dude certainly isn’t one but their are plenty of other fine 16 yr old minds out there that could program rings around many people.

    • Joanne Dolles says:

      I agree! I’ve had a 15 year old program for me in the past and he was fabulous. The point was not his age and ability to program. It was the fact he was deceiving people into THINKING he could program something that was not possible on Facebook, and then clearly went on to claim it was all a joke for fun.

      • Peach says:

        Ditto to the above. There are some amazing teen and even a few talented preteen programers. This kid, however, is clearly not one of them.

  15. tony hickman says:

    in facebook a guy named jayant mehta chatted with me. next thing i know my computer freezes up. with my wifes computer i tried to log on my facebook account. it too was locked up. then isigned in under her account. she still uses her maiden name . come to find out jayant mehta stole my facebook account, games on facebook, levels and friends. and is still actively using the account. this is so wrong. i worked hard to get up to the levels i have. i dont know what his purpose for this was. he wanted what i had? greed? too lazy to earn his own stuff ? i have tried contacting many different people. facebook. zynga/ farmville and police. would like further information if anyone can be of assistance. if he will do this, whats to stop him from doing worse things,…… having no regard , or respect for other people.

  16. Kyle says:

    He’s baaaaack. http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/seeprofile?v=wall&ref=nf

  17. Brad says:

    Read your article again and notice how many times you mention the scammer’s age. “Teen,” “child,” “highschool,” etc. Do you have something you want to say? What is your deal? I was a competent developer when I was in high school. Do you have stupid children or something?

    • Joanne Dolles says:

      No, I have nothing more to say. I said it all above :) This particular scenario was all about someone doing something for the heck of it, to see what would happen. That is childish – hence my comments. No where do I say that teens or highschool students are not competent. I have had numerous students work on applications for me that are extremely talented. But, just because someone is competent or talented, doesn’t make them mature. This is proven by you asking if I “have stupid children”…

  18. bunniehopkins says:

    so what if i clicked this app? how do i take it off??

    • Joanne Dolles says:

      To delete the app, go to Account–>Application Settings–>Authorized, find the app name and click the X to remove it.

      • Black says:

        OK, there are no “applications” that are “authorized.” However, that stupid page entitled “SEE WHO VIEWED YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE!!” still shows in my list of pages on my profile. I want it gone. How do we get rid of it? When you click the link for that page, it takes you to the phoney application page with no way to get rid of it?

        • Joanne Dolles says:

          If it is just a fan page, there will be an “Unlike” button at the bottom left side of the page you need to click. That will remove it from your list of pages.

          • elithea says:

            there is nothing there of any kind. the link goes to an outside page. how do we remove it? i never “liked” anything, and yet it says i did.

            • Joanne Dolles says:

              You will need to be more specific about what you want to remove please so I can better give you instructions :)

  19. danny says:

    and stop calling it a scam …proper scamming is me emptying your bank accounts .noobs

    • Joanne Dolles says:

      A “scam”, according to 3 different dictionaries (Websters, Random House, Collins) I checked is a confidence game , fraudulent scheme, or a stratagem for gain. It also can be a business swindle (as you referred to). Therefore, the use of the word “scam” is appropriate in this post, as it was a confidence game and a stratagem for gain – the creator wanted gain an ego boost :)

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