Fake account cancellation emails are targeting Facebook users and trying to get them infected with information-stealing malware, warns Sophos.

The email looks pretty legitimate at first glance:


While both embedded links point to a Facebook page, it is that of a third-party application running on the Facebook platform.

Users who follow them land there, but are immediately asked to allow a Java applet whose digital signature could not be verified. And even if they answer "No", the window with the request continues to pop up and pester them.

If they finally agree and run the applet, another window pops up requiring them to download a supposed Adobe Flash update, which is actually the SpyEye Trojan in disguise.

"The social engineering being used by the tricksters behind this malware attack is pretty cunning," Sophos points out. "They know that people value their Facebook accounts highly, and many would be upset to lose access to them and the digital connections they have built up with friends and family."