Facebook Fan Check Application Virus: Likely A Hoax

by Truemorist | September 7, 2009 at 07:37 am

30533 views | 11 Recommendations | 23 comments

ZOMFG! Another Facebook Virus!!! This time, it's a Facebook Fan Check application virus, attacking everyone who's using Fan Check to see who's visiting their pages. Whoah, whoah, whoah- hold yer horses there, Tex: chances are there's no virus. That's because Fan Check itself is BS. The ancient app never worked in the first place, and would violate Facebook's TOS even if it did. Which it didn't.

A few blogs have picked up this rumor (dare I say Truemor? I dare!), but no reputable security site has even mentioned it once. However, beware of so-called virus-fix sites, as they tend to bear evil gifts of... malware! Yup, the ol' switcheroo.

So, if you're still using Fan Check, then slap yourself in the face before uninstalling, but don't worry about malware.

At least not this time.

We believe that this is merely a two part hoax: on one hand, you have a defunct application that allegedly lets you see who’s been visiting your Facebook profile – which cannot work due to Facebook’s policies, and all applications claiming to do so are scams. On the other, spammers and malicious hackers are feeding the rumors around this application to lead people to search for a solution, and getting their computers infected by malware in return.

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accra (not verified)

at 15:09 on September 7th, 2009

But Fan Check doesn't even claim to show who's visiting your pages. On the contrary it clearly stresses it does not.

Chris_3 (not verified)

at 15:29 on September 7th, 2009

i have a friend on facebook that was allegedly attacked by a virus after using this app on facebook apparently it was a nightmare to get rid of i don't want to take any risks so therefore will not use it as said above it doesn't even claim to see who has checked your profile

Jimmy wobblecock (not verified)

at 21:14 on September 7th, 2009

I had a toastie with ham on it and it raped my mother!!!

BLAH BLAH (not verified)

at 10:40 on September 15th, 2009

YOU ARE SICK!

divi (not verified)

at 04:39 on September 9th, 2009

I have a TV in my bedroom!!

TodoroWWW (not verified)

at 15:29 on September 10th, 2009

I completely agree with this article, totally true... This mass histeria about _another_ FB virus is ridiculous... If it were a threat, as stated above, some of the security sites would have mentioned... Instead, they don't... Just use your brain people, and you'll be fine...

Ashleyyy (not verified)

at 09:15 on September 14th, 2009

Today my friend did her "FAN CHECK" and everything was fine.. but then one of her close friends posted a comment stating "fan check is a virus. Delete it, even if your tagged" and I replied.. "She's just jealous she didn't make your top 20!" lol

The_Great_G (not verified)

at 16:13 on September 14th, 2009

Brilliant!

_todd_K (not verified)

at 10:19 on September 14th, 2009

um, facebook blog and fanpage BOTH reported that it was a virus. that's why everone freaked out.

john martinelli (not verified)

at 10:26 on September 14th, 2009

I disagree about Fan Check not working. The people listed as my biggest fans make perfect sense. Of my 110 fans, the ones listed are the ones always posting on my page, where about 90 of them never posted once. Yeah, it works.

Ac Slater (not verified)

at 12:04 on September 14th, 2009

Fan Check is not a virus and doesn't actually track profile views. All it does is see's who you're interacting with as far as wall posts, comments, tagging, etc. None of the apps out there that claim to track profile views actually work. The only way you're going to get a virus from this thing is by searching the web to find a fix for this "virus", those sites claiming to have a fix are the real problems, not the app itself.

bluesangel (not verified)

at 12:25 on September 14th, 2009

We also got a horrible virus that was a nightmare to get rid of and almost completely crashed our computer. The thing even made it hard to do a system restore. I felt horrible thinking I caused all of my husband's work to be lost. He was able to get it back up and running though. I will not be using fan check and will remove any tags that link me to it.

Daniel Decker (not verified)

at 15:06 on September 14th, 2009

I avoid all viruses by using a Mac.

The_Great_G (not verified)

at 16:15 on September 14th, 2009

Great move. Anything UNIX based should put you in the clear

Sarai (not verified)

at 20:59 on September 14th, 2009

Security through obscurity is no security at all...

Marisa Kirisame (not verified)

at 15:37 on September 14th, 2009

It seemed that there was a redirect to WinAntivirus Pro within the Fan Check App Page. Redirects are super common on the internet and yes people we infected. Malwarebytes removes it...however from the fancheck updates, it seemed they took care of it.

Kat S (not verified)

at 16:25 on September 14th, 2009

The application requests access to your news feed and uses the data from that to compile a list of the people that interact with your facebook wall the most -- likes, wall posts, and comments are tallied to determine the results.That said, it's still quite inane, as are most Facebook ads.

... (not verified)

at 05:25 on September 20th, 2009

but nearly all the apps access your stuff anyway...

Art_By_Alida

at 19:25 on September 18th, 2009

The problem with Top Fan is that you can't edit it if someone has you as a fan. It shows up in your photos and you can't delete it.

It's a horribly invasive application you can't get rid of if you are in the fan list.

If this sort of thing keeps happening, I am leaving Facebook....

bby-g (not verified)

at 05:24 on September 20th, 2009

can't you just untag yourself??

Helen Massocchi (not verified)

at 02:10 on September 19th, 2009

Well I used this application and my view is that is does work, even though it doesn't count page views. It is not highly invasive as those who appear must at some time have felt confident enough to post/like SOMETHING at some time. However, after that I think looking at photos can alter your ranking because I did a test - I looked through a friends photos multiple times and I went up the ranking list of his fans by a few places right away. Just looking at someone's profile will not make any difference - but what will is if you click on anything on the person's wall - links, to see who likes something and to view comments by clicking for example 'see all 5 comments' - this is all classed as interaction with someone's wall including clicking on posted photos.Just my view! However it seems this application has now been shut down. I didn't post the photo of my fans though and tag them - thought that would be unfair and could cause embarrassment!