Beware of These Facebook & Instagram Messenger Scams
As often as technology evolves to improve our day-to-day experiences online, hackers and scammers evolve just as fast to find new ways to manipulate software and its users to become victims of their malicious schemes. While it's important to equip your business with the proper tools to defend against things like malware, direct hacking, DDoS attacks, and data breaches, its equally important to make sure you and your team have the trained eye to spot social engineering tactics.
We're going to cover some common scams that our team has spotted on social media recently, and go over what you should do if you've come across one of these scams yourself!
Facebook & Meta Business Messenger Scams
If your business has a Facebook and/or Instagram account, then you'll want to be on the look-out for these common scam messages.
Scam Message: "Your Facebook Page Has Been Restricted/Disabled"
If you have received a message to your business's Facebook or Instagram account that claims to be warning you of page restriction or page deletion, that is a red flag that this message could be one of the latest scams attempting to gain your account login information.
You may even notice that this message looks like it's from a legitimate source, these messages have been reported to come from scammers with usernames like:
You may even notice that this message looks like it's from a legitimate source, these messages have been reported to come from scammers with usernames like:
- Business Page Support
- Facebook User
- Facebook Community Standards
- Meta Support Team
- Meta Business Support
If you look closely, you might notice that these usernames contain characters that might resemble a letter from the alphabet, but are slightly distorted. This is a common way that scammer masquerade themselves as seemingly real support personnel usernames. These odd-looking characters are a way for scammers to sneak around Facebook security, they are almost like a social engineer's camouflage.
Scam Message: "Your Facebook Page Has Been Disabled by I.N.C. International Concepts"
If you have received a message claiming that your Facebook page has been reported by a group called "I.N.C. International Concepts," then you'll want to flag the message as spam and report it to Facebook in the messenger.
I.N.C. International Concepts is not actually reporting your Facebook page, a scammer is using their name to try and trick an unknowing Facebook user.Scam Message: "Your page has been scheduled for deletion"
If you have received a message claiming that your Facebook page has been "scheduled for deletion," then you want to flag this message as spam too. The idea for these scam messages in your inbox is to try and trick you into thinking you need to click the link. This link will likely take you to a fake Facebook login page where someone is trying to steal your login information.
What You Should Do
No matter what, you should never click on a link in one of these messages, it would likely result in your login information getting stolen. If you are concerned about whether or not a message from Facebook Support is legit, you can always reach out to Facebook and ask them if they send the message or if they can verify the claim.
It is very unlikely that something as serious as page deletion, page restriction, or your page being disabled would be communicated to you through a single message in your account. These types of notifications are typically sent to the account owner's email inbox from a legitimate domain. Keep in mind, Facebook and Instagram business accounts can be, and often are connected, so if you see these messages on Instagram they could be scammers as well.
It is very unlikely that something as serious as page deletion, page restriction, or your page being disabled would be communicated to you through a single message in your account. These types of notifications are typically sent to the account owner's email inbox from a legitimate domain. Keep in mind, Facebook and Instagram business accounts can be, and often are connected, so if you see these messages on Instagram they could be scammers as well.
As always, if you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of a message, reach out to Facebook directly to verify.
Protecting Your Business Online
Protecting your business not only includes your own devices and data, but it includes your business's online persona as well. Losing access to your social media accounts to a scammer is no joke, and could likely result in lost likes, followers, and even control over your business's reputation online.
One of the best ways to prevent scammers from gaining access to your Facebook and Instagram account is by eliminating password sharing and using delegated access when possible. You should also avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts; if a scammer finds out your password on just one account, how many accounts would they be able to access with that same email and password?
One of the best ways to prevent scammers from gaining access to your Facebook and Instagram account is by eliminating password sharing and using delegated access when possible. You should also avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts; if a scammer finds out your password on just one account, how many accounts would they be able to access with that same email and password?
For more information on understanding and defending against social engineering tactics, check out one of past our IT blogs, or contact us to see how we can help improve your business's security today.
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