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Alert: "You need to upgrade your Flash Player" scam

Recently I found a few instances where when I click Play on videos shown on the Facebook homepage (which displays the news feed), I get a message in place of the video that says "You need to upgrade your Flash Player" followed by a button called "Upgrade Now"

Be warned! This is a scam to get spyware and viruses installed into your computer. I have once clicked the button and immediately realized my mistake when I noticed that the browser is attempting to download an executable file that looked extremely suspicious. On researching further about the origins of the file, I have found that it comes from a spyware making company (of sorts).

If you want to check whether you have the latest version of Flash Player, just go to this page in the official Adobe Flash website. It will show you the latest version of flash player, and the version you have installed. Also note that Adobe Flash does not alert you of an update the way the scam does. Besides, videos will still play as long as you have a recent version of the player even if you don't have the latest.

I didn't get a chance to make a screenshot. When I do, I'll put up a screenshot here. The conditions where it happened to me are:
  • Random videos from YouTube (shared by my friends in the Facebook wall)
  • Facebook home page news feed
  • Mozilla Firefox 4.0.1
  • Reloading the page and playing the video again fixes the problem.
If you encountered the same scam, post a comment and tell me what the conditions are for you.

Comments

  1. pastorcharlesele1@gmail.com | pastorcharlesele@gmail.com - Email scammers23 June, 2011 06:29

    Guys, dont be scammed via Email by pastorcharlesele1@gmail.com or pastorcharlesele@gmail.com

    Read their styles of scamming at http://paidcritique.blogspot.com/2011/06/pastorcharlesele1gmailcom.html

    Godbless and Take Care.
    Don't let the scammers get you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Martin Peck28 May, 2013 00:10

    I have been trying to get the lyrics for a song called "Por Las Puras" by Los Campesinos via the site http://sarhuallaqta.blogspot.com/2007/04/por-las-puras.html and I get redirected to what seems to be spyware telling me to update my Flash Player. Could you please look into this and tell me if the Sarhuallajta website is legitimate but hacked, or if it is a spyware platform? Many thanks---this is very frustrating!

    ReplyDelete

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