Being Aware of an Increasingly Common Facebook Scam
Scammers are trying to convince page-owners that they've committed Facebook violations. Don't fall for it.
Hi all. Today’s social media tip was suggested by Julie Bromley.
Both she and I manage a number of public pages on Facebook, and we’ve noticed a big uptick lately in a specific type of scam. We suspect some of you have (or will) run into the same issue. In fact, I think some of you have already confirmed to Julie that you have. So, we figured it would be a good idea to warn you all about it.
The scam targets Facebook page managers/owners with fraudulent messages (through the comment section or direct-messages) claiming that the page has violated Meta's rules and regulations (whether it be via copyright infringement, a fake identity, or a privacy violation), and that the page may be subject to suspension or deletion.
Examples:
The scammers use official-sounding names for their accounts (sometimes even pretending to be Facebook/Meta), and they request that the person/page they’re targeting click on a link to address the alleged violation.
Don’t fall for it. Don’t click on the link. Don’t even respond to it. Just ignore it.
Usually, if the scammer doesn’t receive a response from you in a day or two, they’ll delete the message themselves… or Facebook will remove it.
If the real Facebook ever believes you are in violation of some rule, they’ll send you a specific email about it (and there very likely won’t be a link). The real Facebook will never contact you exclusively through Messenger or the comment section.
Let me know if you have any questions.
And while we’re on the topic of scams…
A few weeks ago, an author asked me about “all of the attractive women” that have been following him lately on Instagram, and trying to contact him through Instagram direct messages.
The author (as handsome of a man as he is) figured it was some kind of hoax. And he was right.
Those accounts are commonly known on social media as “porn-bots.”
Examples (these ones just followed me the other day):
They follow you, and try to engage with you, in hopes of ultimately conning you out of money (or your soul, lol). I run into them most often on Instagram, but they’re becoming quite common on “X” (formerly Twitter), a little more common on Facebook, and I’ve even had a few approach me on Substack.
What should you do if you run into this? Again, just ignore it.
If you want, you can also delete their message requests, but Instagram has gotten better at doing that automatically. You can also ‘block’ them, but I typically don’t because they add to my ‘followers’ count, which makes me look more popular to potential readers than I actually am.
Best of luck, everyone!