I’ll admit it. I am addicted to Farmville on Facebook! I also play (somewhat addicted) Scrabble with my son and old friends on Facebook. If you are a “friend” of mine on the social networking site, you probably already know this about me because I always post the lost pink cow or ugly duckling I find. Or if you play too, we are “neighbors” in Farmville, right?

Imagine my dismay when I see an article with a picture of my favorite Farmville in Time magazine that says “Are you getting scammed by Facebook Games?”
(http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1935698,00.html)

Alas! The story doesn’t end with Farmville. The company that created it, Zynga, also created Mafia Wars, Café World, Yoville and Roller Coaster Kingdom. Chances are if you yourself don’t play one of these games, you know someone who does. According to the Zynga website, they have 50 million daily active users.

Here is how the game works:

You start Farmville with a plot of land and a small amount of virtual money. You earn more virtual money by tilling the land, growing crops and taking care of animals.

If you want to progress faster in the game, you can also purchase (through credit cards and Paypal) more virtual money. If you don’t wish to use a credit card, you can sign up for a promotion.

The scam comes in when you choose to participate in a survey in exchange for virtual dollars. When you complete the survey, they ask for a cell phone number to send the ”results”. There is no mention of the $9.99 per month “service” fee they are going to charge your cell.

My thoughts immediately go to all the young teens who don’t have a credit card but have a cell phone and might fall for this trick. Then I think of all the people I know who might not be very computer/scam savvy and may fall victim. The truth is that these online games are created by revenue based companies. It is important to keep that in mind when you play and explain this to the young people in your life.

This Techcrunch.com article by Mark Pincus (CEO of Zynga) said (on video), he did anything for profits in the formation of his company including giving virtual poker chips in exchange for a toolbar download which he said, he “couldn’t get rid of it (the toolbar)”. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus-faceboo/

According to the Time Magazine article, Zynga is doing everything in their power to be on the up and up and “has raised its BBB rating to a B+ from an F” in the past year which is great to see. Facebook and MySpace both say “they monitor all applications closely and have suspended companies that violate advertising protocols.” (Read more here: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1935698,00.html#ixzz0Wg2B2kaK)

I will still play my favorite games on Facebook, but I never “pay to play” and never click on ads or offers. I have told my kids to be careful of too good to be true offers. I also am very careful to keep my antivirus set to update automatically and use McAfee Family Protection to make sure my teens don’t give out their cell phone number online.

Cybermom’s Tips of the Day

1. Whenever you make purchases online, make sure that the Web site has encryption. If it is safe, it will display a closed lock in the Web browser – either top or bottom of the page. You can also check the Web address; it should begin with https:// if it is secure.

2. Never respond to an e-mail that asks you to validate or confirm any of your personal or account information. This could be a phishing scam. Contact the company directly if you are wondering if the email is legitimate.

3. Create a strong password for your Facebook account and all other accounts using a combination of letters, numbers and symbols. Example: password=“Pa$$w0rd”, apple=“@ppl3”, doggone=“d0gg0n3”

4. Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date(current subscription, correctly installed, set to update automatically) in case one of these online games contains a virus.

5. Remember these game companies want to make a profit. If you aren’t paying to play the game, how are they making money? Ads on the site? Offers? Be careful what you click on – if a deal sounds too good, it probably is.

If you have been a victim of this scam, will you please write to me? Send an email to cybermom@mcafee.com.

Tracy
@McAfeeCybermom

Tags: cybermom, facebook, family, Family Safety, online games, social networking