'May God Bless This Kind Person' Spyware Hacker Warning Hoax

From: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/god-bless-spyware-hacker-warning.shtml

Outline
Message circulating on Facebook warns users to watch out for a post that says "MAY GOD BLESS THIS KIND PERSON BELOW WITH PEACE, LOVE, AND HAPPINESS" because it is a "spyware hacker" that can steal all information from affected Facebook accounts and use it for "bad purposes".

Example
IT,S BEEN CONFIRMED::::: NEW SPYWARE HACKER WARNING!!! IF YOU SEE ANYONE POST A "MAY GOD BLESS THIS KIND PERSON BELOW WITH PEACE, LOVE,AND HAPPINESS," WITH YOUR PROFILE PICTURE ATTACHED BELOW, AND SENT BY YOUR FRIEND VIE TEXT. PLEASE DO NOT CLICK LIKE OR SHARE..IT,S A SPYWARE, AND ALL YOUR INFO ON FB WILL BE COPIED AND REUSED FOR BAD PURPOSES. PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO.



Detailed Analysis
According to this confused and breathless ALL CAPS warning, Facebook users need to watch out for yet another security threat, in this case a "new spyware hacker" that can copy all of the information from your Facebook account and reuse it for "bad purposes". The message warns users not to click "like" or "share" on any posts that contain the message "May God Bless This Kind Person Below With Peace, Love, And Happiness".

However, this garbled warning does not accurately describe any genuine security threat and reposting it is unlikely to be helpful. The message claims that the threat has been confirmed but does not say who or what did the confirming. The warning appears to be derived from concerns about a relatively harmless, albeit annoying Facebook application that allows you to share the words "May God always bless this kind person below with peace, love and happiness" along with a personalized message via your Facebook news feed. If you click "Share" on the application, it posts the following message to your Facebook page.



A copy of the post appears on the News Feeds of your Facebook friends. However, apparently, the app automatically displays the profile picture of the friend on whose Facebook page it appears and it is probably this behaviour that has raised security concerns and lead to the creation of this overblown and inaccurate warning. The app creator has not provided a description of what the app actually does and the way the app promotes itself could be considered to be spam. The app may also be an attempt to promote other applications and services offered by its creator. But, other than the rather disconcerting use of profile pictures, the app does not appear to be overtly malicious or cause any ongoing problems with the user's account or computer. It is certainly not valid to describe the app as a spyware hacker that can steal all of the information from your Facebook account.

That said, the advice not to like or share the app may well be worth heeding. The app is somewhat dubious in intent and probably best avoided. At the very least such bucket worthy saccharin sentiment is likely to irritate many fellow Facebookers and, for some at least, may cause debilitating waves of nausea :)