POLICE have warned residents after seeing local reports of a Facebook phishing attack which “swept across Germany”.

Researchers at Cybernews uncovered a scam last month which, within two weeks, had snared around half a million victims in Germany.

The scam is difficult to spot, as the link appears to come from a trusted contact.

But Dorset Police Cyber Crime Unit has urged people to think twice before clicking a link from a friend asking “is this you”.

A spokesperson for the Cyber Crime Unit said: “Earlier this week we warned of a Facebook phishing attack that has already swept across Germany.

“We are now starting to see reports locally, so we wanted to take this opportunity to warn you again.

“If you receive a message through Facebook messenger that asks ‘Is this you’ in a video, do not click the link.

“This is a particularly nasty scam, with the link automatically routing you through a number of websites, all infected with credential harvesters, and other malware.”