Sunday, November 15, 2009

Facebook-Game Scams Appear on Phone Bills - TIME

Facebook-Game Scams Appear on Phone Bills - TIME

Are You Getting Scammed by Facebook Games?

By Belinda Luscombe Friday, Nov. 06, 2009
Facebook's 'FarmVille' game
Facebook's FarmVille game

Facebook games — Mafia Wars, FarmVille, Restaurant City — have become surprisingly effective at diverting time wasters among the social-networking crowd. More than 63 million people alone play FarmVille. But now accusations have surfaced that the games can lead some more gullible players, including children, into Internet scams, especially if they have a cell phone.

Here's how it works. You join FarmVille, a game on Facebook in which you can create a virtual farm by growing crops and livestock and tilling the earth. Through your toil, you earn virtual money, but to farm more efficiently or quickly, you can also invest real cash (through PayPal or a credit card) to buy virtual goods, such as seed or a tractor. Should you not have any real cash to spare on things that after all do not actually exist, you can instead accept an offer from one of the advertisers on the game site and get virtual cash in return.

Posted via email from Pa^2 Patois

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