Thousands of Facebook users have been hit by new scam designed to earn revenue for scammers, says IT security and control firm, Sophos.

Cautioning Facebook users about the latest survey scam which is said to be spreading virally across the social network, the security firm's researchers said “messages claiming to share the users” first ever Facebook status updates are being posted on users' walls by a rogue application.

When users click on the link that appears to have been posted by a Facebook friend, they would be taken to a rogue Facebook application.

This application would then ask users for permission to access their profile, thus giving the rogue application the ability to post the same message from the affected account.

The firm advises Facebook users (who have been affected by this scam) to delete references to this scam from their wall and prevent further spread.

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