Security experts have warned Facebook users in India not to fall for a new scam which tricks victims into “self cross-site scripting” by promising access to a tool which will let them hack their friends’ accounts.

Symantec security response manager Satnam Narang revealed in a blog entry that a post began circulating last week on Facebook featuring a video with tips on how to hack accounts.

That post apparently linked to a Google Drive document containing code that the scammers claimed will allow users to see their friends’ passwords, if they cut and paste it into their browser window.

He continued:

What really happens when you paste this code into your browser console window is that a series of actions are performed using your Facebook account without your knowledge. Behind the scenes, your account is used to follow lists and users, and give likes to pages in order to inflate the follower and like counts defined by the scammers. Your account is also used to tag the names of all your friends in the comment section of the original post. This is done to help the scam spread further, playing off the curiosity of your friends, who may visit the post to find out more and hopefully follow the instructions as well.

Narang claimed that the scammers behind an earlier version of this self cross-site scripting attack managed to gain 50,000-100,000 likes on Facebook and followers on several pages and profiles.

The attackers are based in India but some of the words used in the code are Turkish, hinting that this is where they may hail from originally, he added. ®