Published: February 21, 2023 on our newsletter Security Fraud News & Alerts Newsletter.
Ever wonder who’s peeking at your social media profile? It could be a friend or co-worker, but it could also be someone with bad intent. The desire to know who’s looking at your profile raises new security concerns. There are third-party apps claiming they allow you to see who’s checking out your social media profile. But are they for real or is it a scam? Read on to learn the truth about these third-party apps and why you should avoid them.
With 2.96 billion active Facebook users, there’s plenty of opportunity for those behind third-party apps to trick them, including those who’d love to know who’s peeking at their profile. The demand for these apps exists, but as we know with online life, there are always nefarious actors looking to benefit from our trust.
The Truth Behind the Hype
Apps and services that claim to offer two-way viewing are there to steal your data, infect you with malware, and provide you with fake information that is of no real value. The damage from these bogus apps varies from abusing your PII to malware infections ripe for further, larger crimes against you.
If you’ve already installed one of these bogus third-party apps, you need to manually block it. Otherwise, it will keep on accessing your Facebook account and continue stealing your data. Facebook’s Help Center shows how to remove or block an app from your account, so remember, the best time to remove it is now.
When “Like” Isn’t Likable
The scores of annoying ads popping up on your Facebook page happen for a reason. Ads you’ve liked and those ads your friends like, pop up on your page and on theirs, too. It’s how Facebook works, but this feature can be disabled, as shown below. This is as of writing in the mobile version. Facebook updates how you change your preferences and settings fairly often. If this doesn’t work for you, try doing a search in Facebook help.
Click the three-line Menu in the bottom right corner of your Facebook page on your mobile device. Scroll until you find and can click Settings and Privacy. Then choose Settings, scroll down to the Permissions section, and click Ad Preferences. Choose “Ad.” You may see “Advertisers” “Ad” and “Ad” further to the right. If so, click the one furthest on the right. Scroll down and then choose Social Interactions. Choose Only Me for Who can see your social interactions alongside ads. Once completed, the number of different ads you see should be reduced.
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