Facebook Messenger virus video – Youtube link removal [May 2019]

Find out what the Facebook Messenger virus is and how to sort out the issue to prevent malicious spam from being generated out of a compromised account.

1. What is the Facebook Messenger virus?
2. Automated removal of Facebook Messenger virus
3. Restore web browser settings to their original defaults

What is the Facebook Messenger virus?

Facebook Messenger virus is a long-running infection that turns one’s social network account into a jumping-off point for a massive phishing attack targeting all of the user’s contacts. It was first documented in 2013 and has since gone through numerous outbreaks as well as some evolutionary changes. One of the common entry points for this perpetrating entity is a contagious installation client that cross-promotes one or several potentially unwanted apps under the benign-looking umbrella of some nifty freeware program. Once in, the virus follows a preassigned workflow to gain a foothold in the victim’s Facebook account and access the full friend list along with the most important features, including the instant messenger module. If the attack chain goes well, the electronic culprit will start sending out eye-catching messages to the contacts.

Most of these rogue messages say, “This video belongs to you?”, “You are in this video?”, “[Username] Video” or “Haha was that you?”, and contain a few smileys to fit the mold of garden-variety fun communication between pals on the network. While the wording might vary, the thing invariably shared across all these instances is that there is a link that alleged leads to the announced Youtube video. Now, let’s do the math real quick. A recipient, that is, the user on the other end of the spam stratagem, receives a message from a person they actually know. The information in there is very intriguing and usually suffices to at least draw the target’s close attention. In the upshot of these fairly convincing elements occurring at the same time, the would-be victim may be lured into following the embedded link. By the way, it is usually processed with a URL shortening service so that Facebook’s defenses cannot easily identify the hoax by comparing the address against a blacklist of known-malicious ones.

Here’s what happens if the user falls for the fraud. They are forwarded to a website that resembles YouTube and seems to host the purported video. However, the multimedia content won’t play, allegedly because some plugin is missing on the victim’s device. A popup that appears on the page recommends installing the required component. In most cases, it’s a fake Flash Player update that promotes the Facebook Messenger virus or other infection, such as spyware or even ransomware that will encrypt all of the user’s personal data and demand cryptocurrency for decryption.

A few clicks on the spoof setup wizard to complete the booby-trapped installation – and the malady is on board, all set for impacting the host system. This tricky technique bolsters autonomous circulation of the Facebook Messenger virus and other threats. As a result, the user who once received the fishy link and followed it becomes an unwitting distributor of the same kind of junk as all their Facebook contacts will start getting the toxic messages. The spam cycle goes on and on, inflating exponentially to reach a huge amount.

There is one more flavor of this scheme that makes every victim frown. The noxious messages may push adult content via the injected hyperlinks, which can be a major source of embarrassment for the plagued person. It’s also worth mentioning that sometimes it’s not a video but a picture of the user that’s claimed to be on the landing page. This doesn’t really change anything in terms of the cybercriminals’ ultimate goal. They will still encourage the prey to install some pseudo media plugin that does the exact same thing as in the bogus video scenario. If this activity is underway and you are receiving messages of that sort, the rule of thumb is to ignore them and never click on the links inside. If your Facebook account is already being abused to spew out the messenger spam, be sure to follow the walkthrough below and get rid of the virus.

Automated removal of Facebook Messenger virus [Youtube video link]

Owing to an up-to-date database of malware signatures and intelligent behavioral detection, the recommended software can quickly locate the infection, eradicate it and remediate all harmful changes. So go ahead and do the following:

1. Download and install the antimalware tool. Open the solution and have it check your PC for PUPs and other types of malicious software by clicking the Start Computer Scan button

Download Facebook Messenger virus remover

2. Rest assured the scan report will list all items that may harm your operating system. Select the detected entries and click Fix Threats to get the troubleshooting completed.

Use Control Panel to get rid of the Facebook Messenger video virus

• Open up the Control Panel from your Start menu in Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 and select Uninstall a program

• To facilitate the process of locating the threat, sort the programs list by date to get the latest ones displayed at the very top. Find an unfamiliar, suspicious entry under the Name column, click Uninstall and follow further directions to get the removal done

Restore web browser settings to their original defaults

In the circumstances of a complex browser hijack like this, executing a reset makes the most sense despite a few obvious downsides. Customizations such as saved passwords, bookmarked pages etc. will be gone, but so will all the changes made by the potentially unwanted program. The instructions below address the workflow for the web browsers most targeted by the Facebook Messenger virus.

Reset Mozilla Firefox

• Open Firefox, type about:support in the URL area and press Enter. Alternatively, you can click on the Open menu icon in the top right-hand part of the browser window, then select the Help option and proceed to Troubleshooting Information

• On the Troubleshooting Information screen, spot the Refresh Firefox button and click on it

• Follow subsequent directions to reset Firefox to its original settings

• Restart the browser.

Reset Google Chrome

• Open Chrome, expand the Customize and control Google Chrome menu and choose Settings

• Scroll down the settings screen and click Advanced down at the bottom

• Move on to the Reset and clean up sub-section and select the option that says Restore settings to their original defaults

• Finally, confirm the restoration by clicking Reset settings on the warning message

• Restart Chrome.

Reset Internet Explorer

• Select Internet options under IE’s Tools (Alt+X)

• Proceed by clicking on Advanced tab, then select Reset

• To confirm the intended changes, click Reset on the Reset Internet Explorer Settings screen after ascertaining that the Delete personal settings checkbox is enabled

• Reboot the machine to fully implement the fix.

Reset Safari

• Go to the Safari menu and select Preferences

• When on the Preferences screen, select the Privacy tab and hit the Remove All Website Data button if you are up to erasing all website data stored on your Mac. Otherwise, you can use a site-specific removal option described below

• A dialog will appear, asking you to validate your choice. Click the Remove Now button if you are sure. Be advised this will log you out of online services and undo personalized web browser settings such as saved passwords, etc.

• Safari also allows deleting data for specific sites rather than all sites in general. To use this option, click the Details button under Privacy tab

• Select the websites for which you would like to erase data and click the Remove button

• Click the Done button to confirm and exit. You can also select the Remove All option to remove all data stored by the listed websites.

Revise your security status

Post-factum assessment of the accuracy component in malware removal scenarios is a great habit that prevents the comeback of harmful code or replication of its unattended fractions. Make sure you are good to go by running an additional safety checkup.

Download Facebook Messenger virus removal tool