Social Media managers stay sharp – despite Meta verified coming online, you should still keep an eye out for ads like this in your Feed. If you spot an ad even remotely close or displays similar characteristics to this sample shown, then know that this is a scam ad. Scam ads like these redirect users to malware, though the Facebook Page it links to looks very believable.

Verified Scams

From what we can derive from the known reports thus far, hackers have somehow gained access to a selection of verified accounts on Facebook, which they’re now using to promote Facebook-specific scams, by posing as official Meta providers. Obviously, they’re not. Here’s a quick rule of thumb – if the URLs don’t say ‘facebook.com’, ‘fb.com’, or ‘meta.com’, then they’re likely not affiliated with Meta or any of its platforms and must be avoided at all costs.

So, how does something like this happen? Isn’t ‘Meta Verified’ supposed to increase security? How, then, do these scammers get access to verified pages, then get approved for ads in Meta’s apps? While no one can prove for certain yet, there’s one initial assumption – that these scammers simply paid for verification through the new program, for the most part, is incorrect, and does not seem to be the root cause of this new wave of fakes.

Based on what Mashable had to say, who investigated the influx of Facebook ad scammers, most of these fake Pages belong to established verified accounts, which have had their names changed in the last week. Still, the arrival of Meta Verified, which grants anyone a blue checkmark on Facebook and Instagram, does expand risk, somewhat. That could lead to more of these types of scams happening more often, duping unsuspecting users.

Surprisingly, it seems to be Twitter that came up with a solution, with Twitter’s verification tick now disappearing from accounts when you change your profile name or photo. Twitter had to implement more strict anti-impersonation measures after a flood of scammers flocked to the app after the 1st release of Twitter Blue, which allowed anyone to essentially buy a blue tick and pretend to be an official account.

The Wrap

It’s the implementation of this measure that might have actually awakened these scammers, which now sees Meta facing this new challenge. Still, Meta’s systems must be more robust in this respect, particularly in terms of running ads. It’s also not a very good endorsement for vouching for its protective capacity. Perhaps Meta’s approving more ads in its bid to boost ad revenue? Or maybe Meta’s relying a bit too much on AI detection to spot scams? Regardless, it would do all of us good to stay wary.

Sources

https://bit.ly/3LHgIRx