“Rare animal gift” scams target FarmVille players

A string of Farmille-themed scams have been popping up on Facebook in the last few days, trying to lure users into completing surveys by using offers of rare animals and Farm Cash as bait:

Icelandic horses, wolf cubs, rare Ptarmigan Willows, Fiordland Penguins – the scammers obviously don’t lack imagination and the look of the scams is polished enough to make them believable.

Facecrooks warns that a click on the link contained in these messages takes users to a page where they are asked to install a “free FarmVille Game Bar” and post a message to their wall propagating the scam further.

Once that’s out of the way, the users are asked to complete a survey in order to get their rare animal. The scammers get paid for each completed survey, and the personal information you are required to enter is recorded and might be used in future scams.

Sometimes the users are also incited to sign up for a premium rate service, other times to download and finish a game in order to get the final prize.

The worst thing about this is that sometimes the game the users has to download is not a game at all, but malware that they will unknowingly install on their system.

In any case, if you are tempted by such offers, it is best to verify their legitimacy by checking the official FarmVille and Zynga sites.