Security News > 2022 > January > Finland warns of Facebook accounts hijacked via Messenger phishing
Finland's National Cyber Security Centre warns of an ongoing phishing campaign attempting to hijack Facebook accounts by impersonating victims' friends in Facebook Messenger chats.
In the alert, the NCSC-FI says that all Facebook users who received messages from online acquaintances asking for their phone numbers and a verification number delivered via SMS are the targets of this ongoing scam.
Once hijacked, the Facebook accounts will target other potential victims from their friend list in similar scams.
"In the attempts, a hacked account is used to send messages with the aim of obtaining the recipients' telephone numbers and two-factor authentication codes to hijack their Facebook accounts," the cybersecurity agency explained.
They first send a message from the previously compromised friend's account via Facebook Messenger.
If the SMS confirmation code is shared with the scammers, they will use it together with the phone number to access and hijack the victim's Facebook account.