How to report and block a rogue application in Facebook

Okay, I get this question a lot, so this ought to be of some help.  Here's the situation:

You see a request from something you know is NOT a normal game application (a/k/a a SCAM!), either in the game feed:

Scam Application request from the game feed.

...or in your game requests:

Scam Application request showing up as a gift request.

Anatomy of a SCAM

We've all seen them.  They're Facebook pages which promise HUGE rewards for seemingly very little in return - but what exactly IS a FarmVille SCAM, and how can we spot them?

Spotting a scam is easy, because 99.9999% of them are complete scams.  It's an incredibly rare event when Zynga gives ANYTHING away for free.  

Enjoying that FarmVille Scam?

I hate removing Facebook friends. I really do.  I'm a firm believer in 'the more the merrier'.


Sadly, I've removed a LOT in the last day.  Probably more than MANY of you have.  Some were very good friends.  Some were close friends.  Some were my first neighbors.  Now they're all gone, and gone for good.


Why?  Because you're either too stupid or too greedy or too gullible to try and click on every FarmVille Scam out there.  


It's a VERY RARE EVENT when Zynga actually gives something away, but when they DO, you'll see it IN THE GAME or ON THEIR WEBSITE.  It will be on all the credible blogs. Nowhere else.


I've TRIED to educate folks. There's even a page out there now called FarmVille Scams, which tells you how to block these things and which ones are scams (all of them, of course).  I paste it to my OWN wall so often it's sickening, and yet I swear some of you use that page to go and see which ones actually spit out FarmVille Cash like it's a mouthful of sour milk.


So....this is directed at all 325 former Facebook friends, so that you can be a better neighbor to the NEXT person you add - because it won't be me again.  The rest of you can just sit back and chuckle: