If a Facebook friend sends you an invitation to turn your profile pink, don't accept — it'll save you a huge hassle.
Messages titled "Switch to Pink Facebook (Limited Time)," have been spreading across Facebook for days, offering hundreds of millions of social networkers the chance to "Say goodbye to the boring blue profile and say hello to the pink profile!!"
The messages, the security company Sophos reported, also swap out pink for red or black, and contain links, pinkfbookprofile.blogspot.com or redfbprofile.info, that supposedly will magically give you the bright beautiful background you've been waiting for.
If you feel compelled to ditch your current profile color, clicking the link doesn't automatically give you the new hue, but instead instructs you to first share the link with your Facebook friends and leave a comment, traditional tactics employed by scammers to saddle bogus offers with an air of legitimacy and ensure they keep spreading.
Still waiting for the pink profile? Don't get your hopes up: After you've endorsed the pink or red Facebook invitation, you are then redirected to a "FREE 30 second" survey that (in a bright pink pop-up window) promises you could win an Xbox 360, a Samsung Galaxy Android Tablet or other prizes simply for filling it out.
While this process doesn't ask for any personal information, and is free, you don't end up with a pink, red or black profile page, and the people running the scam make money with each completed survey.
If you've already fallen for the scam, remove any evidence of it from your news feed. In the future, be skeptical of "limited time" offers, even if they're sent from a Facebook friend. Make sure you outfit your computer or smartphone with anti-virus software ; in the event a similar scam is hiding something nastier than a survey, this will be your first line of defense.