Southwest Airlines Facebook scams are specially designed to help cyber crooks get their hands on personal information and distribute various threats to the affected computers. The diversity of the Southwest Airlines Facebook scam types on the social media keeps growing each day.
The Different Southwest Airlines Facebook Scams
The Fake Event
A Southwest Airlines Facebook scam that has been spread recently involves a fake Southwest Airlines Facebook web page promoting a fake “Get 2 Air tickets for 0 costs” event. Users are invited to join the event in order to receive two free Southwest Airlines Facebook tickets. Providing their names and addresses is also part of the hoax. According to the website, users who invite 200 of their friends to join the event will receive four additional tickets that will be delivered in the next four days.
The Free Ticket
In most cases, the Southwest Airlines Facebook scams try to lure the non-suspecting users into following a certain link or a set of instructions in order to acquire free Southwest Airlines Facebook tickets. This sort of scam relies on FB events and pages to make the provided information seem legitimate. However, the provided pages are designed only to trick users into providing their personal data.
The Survey
Another type of Southwest Airlines Facebook scam is presented as an innocent survey that will only take a minute to fill. The more information he user provides, the better – email address, full name, addresses, etc. the collected data is commonly used for marketing purposes and results in various email spam, phone calls from telemarketers, junk mail at home.
The Third-Party Link
Some Southwest Airlines Facebook scams may try to direct the user to certain third-party web pages using Facebook messages or links. Such unverified sites can host different threats or even automatic web attacks. The latter can hack a Facebook profile and collect personal information, send messages on the victim’s behalf, etc.
These scams can lead to the installation of rogue Facebook apps on the compromised account.
What to Do if Your System Has Been Compromised by a Southwest Airlines Facebook Scam?
Users, whose systems have been compromised by the Southwest Airlines Facebook scams are advised to scan their systems for malware and use a reputable anti-spyware program to remove the threats from their computers. Changing the current Facebook password and removing all rogue Facebook applications is a must.
Spy Hunter scanner will only detect the threat. If you want the threat to be automatically removed, you need to purchase the full version of the anti-malware tool. Find Out More About SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
- Guide 1: How to Remove adware or other threats from Windows.
- Guide 2: Get rid of adware or other threats from Mac OS X.
- Guide 3: Remove adware or other threats from Google Chrome.
- Guide 4: Erase adware or other threats from Mozilla Firefox.
- Guide 5: Uninstall adware or other threats from Microsoft Edge.
- Guide 6: Remove adware or other threats from Safari.
- Guide 7: Eliminate adware or other threats from Internet Explorer.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
How to Remove adware or other threats from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove adware or other threats
Step 2: Uninstall adware or other threats and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by adware or other threats on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by adware or other threats there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Get rid of adware or other threats from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall adware or other threats and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove adware or other threats via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 2: Scan for and remove adware or other threats files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as adware or other threats, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. SpyHunter for Mac offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove adware or other threats from Google Chrome.
Step 1: Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu
Step 2: Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"
Step 3: From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its "Remove" button.
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Erase adware or other threats from Mozilla Firefox.
Step 1: Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window
Step 2: Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.
Step 3: Select the unwanted extension and click "Remove"
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Uninstall adware or other threats from Microsoft Edge.
Step 1: Start Edge browser.
Step 2: Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.
Step 3: From the drop menu select "Extensions".
Step 4: Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.
Step 5: Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove adware or other threats from Safari.
Step 1: Start the Safari app.
Step 2: After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.
Step 3: From the menu, click on "Preferences".
Step 4: After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab.
Step 5: Click once on the extension you want to remove.
Step 6: Click 'Uninstall'.
A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the adware or other threats will be removed.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Eliminate adware or other threats from Internet Explorer.
Step 1: Start Internet Explorer.
Step 2: Click on the gear icon labeled 'Tools' to open the drop menu and select 'Manage Add-ons'
Step 3: In the 'Manage Add-ons' window.
Step 4: Select the extension you want to remove and then click 'Disable'. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click 'Disable'.
Step 5: After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red 'X' button located at the top right corner and start it again.
