Facebook Scams You Find In All Social Media Apps

On Facebook, you can be whoever you want, and people will perceive you that way, even if it’s not real. Apply a few social tactics, and people will be interested in what you have to offer.

The power of social media is underrated. Back then, you had to pay either way if you wanted to make the world know you. Now, you just open a profile in five minutes and message whoever you want.

Convenience helps, except when you give these tools to the wrong people. We’re so used to interacting with people online that it’s easy to judge them too early. But not everyone who looks good from the surface has the best intentions.

Confidence Tricks Scammers Use On Social Media

As long as you come with the giving hand and show respect, you can befriend almost anybody, especially on Facebook. It doesn’t take much work to get into someone’s friends’ list, and with enough trust, it could make you money.

If scammers had to build rapport whenever they meet someone, it would take months and wouldn’t be as “profitable.” Instead, they use confidence tricks to gain your attention and trust.

#1 Fraudulent accounts

If anybody can see who you befriend on Facebook, they can approach you with a cloned account. When you receive the friend request, you may think of it as if the person changed to an updated profile.

In a quick check-up, you can find the same posts (comments included!), friends’ list, and biography as in the old profile. Other than the fact that all of these uploaded the same day, it looks trustworthy.

You’re chatting to who you think to be your old friend.

#2 Mutual friends

Someone you don’t know may get your approval if he or she appears on your mutual friends’ list. If others trust this person, why shouldn’t you too?

It doesn’t take much work for a scammer to fake friend requests. He sends a few to your friends, and if someone doesn’t accept, he clones their account and approves his own invitation.

Scammers use social trickery to befriend people who look to have money. Who doesn’t like to show off success on Facebook or Instagram?

#3 Malicious tags

We tend to ignore most notifications and messages received from friends. But if someone dedicates a post to you, curiosity tells you to check it. 

This touch of attention can trigger malware files to install, even capture your login information. Most of us have got used to installing software updates, so all of your tagged friends could fall into this trojan trap.

#4 “Fakebook” imposters

What better way to gain authority than by posing as an admin? You’re more likely to respond to messages from the system than orders sent by some users.

When phishing, scammers can fake a security email that sends you to a cloned Facebook login page. After they get your information, they send you to the real site where your session was already open.

If you find an inexperienced victim, you can steal their information from a single message: no need to interact.

The most profitable scams will likely advertise on the platform to get more clicks. Don’t think it can’t be a scam just because someone is paying to show you promotions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bXPxnLWBVg

#5 Fake social networks

When the opportunity is there, some scammers are willing to work hard for it. A person may not give you enough confidence, but what if a dozen people are telling you the same thing?

Have you ever found those new Facebook groups with less than a hundred members? 20 to 50 of the members could be fake accounts placed to simulate social activity. People wouldn’t join if the group doesn’t have enough members or isn’t active.

This social weapon not only reinforces trust. It attracts more victims to the scheme. Most of these groups are about money matters: free coupon codes, product giveaways, product review groups, in a nutshell, something for nothing.

7 Ways To Get Scammed On Facebook

Originally, the intent of Facebook was to make it easier to interact with friends and family online. But today, the platform has become as popular as the Internet itself. For marketers, it’s a great place to start building your following.

You may know Facebook has more accounts than users. Maybe you have more than one. It’s so easy to edit your profile and contact people that it has become the go-to media platform for scammers.

#1 The Video Call Trick

You met a person on Facebook a few days ago and just started to introduce yourselves. Since you both know appearances can be deceiving, you decide to jump on a video call to meet better.

This stranger will agree to create the virtual room and send you a link to join later.

Sometimes, the other person may have an excuse  to avoid the most popular platforms, such as Messenger, Discord, Skype, or Zoom. Instead, they recommend another program and send you a link.

After you click, they send you to the site after some strange redirections. The problem is, the video call still doesn’t work! The person blames bad connection or some other thing, apologizes, and postpones the meeting.

Among all the actuation, the links you clicked now serve to spy on your computer. You may have seen some files installing but assumed that they must be application updates (the scammer can disguise the file name and icon, also known as trojans).

At the very least, they will steal your Facebook account. For example, they say they posted the link on their feed and send you a link to that Facebook page. But to see it, you have to log in a cloned Facebook page (which then redirects to the real one).

As you can see, there’s no limit on how many ways you can disguise identity theft. Be more creative than your scammer, and take preventive measures when chatting with strangers.

#2 Anti-Phishing Facebook Tools

If losing your account is the best scenario, then what’s the worst that can go wrong? In case you don’t know, spyware can record anything you enter on your computer.

This information is mostly irrelevant. Except when you type in your login details for some page, such as your bank account. 

We’re not going to get into it, but beware that anti-virus programs can also appear as trojan malware. That is, the virus disguises itself as a protection software. If someone on Facebook is warning you about Facebook scams (and how their program will protect you), beware of any links they attach.

As happens in any good detective story, the murderer is the last person you’d ever question: the same one who claims to be “protecting” you.

#3 Compromised Video

Talking of detective work, what if we told you your friend list isn’t “real?” Even if you called a person on Messenger before, someone could have stolen their account and supplanted their identity.

Here, a friend of your friend will likely message you about something you “must-see.” For what he says, you appear in some embarrassing video where they have tagged you. “What are you doing in this video!?” They send you the link for you to check.

There’s no video. The link is only another trick to trigger a software installation. Perhaps it sends you back to the Facebook login screen (even if you didn’t close the session). Phishing at its finest!

#4 Fake coupons

Going on with identity theft tricks, con men can scam shoppers to get into their accounts and buy items. Say you find a bogus deal that redirects you to Amazon, Ebay, or Etsy, and you have to login again. They can now use your accounts to buy what they want.

Or they may send you to a fraudulent Shopify store with fake listings and no refund guarantees. You pay for an item but never get anything. If you had to enter your credit card information, you might have lost that money as well.

When creating the post, you can tell people the codes only work through your link. And if they neither work that way, ask them to private-message you to get new ones. What a way to farm credit cards!

As another variation, people are familiar with browser extensions. These will show you the best deal for the listing you have opened and redirect you to that offer. If you install a fraudulent one, it gets us back to the same issue: identity theft.

#5 Who’s Viewed My Profile (WVMP)

Despite the name of this program, it works with any Facebook plugin that claims to add features to the platform. There are programs to:

Are these possible? Yes, but we don’t know of anyone who has these features. They definitely don’t come from the official Facebook.

Taking WVMP as an example, people expect to see visitor metrics when they install the extension. What they get instead is a spyware trojan.

But even if with recording programs, it’s not always possible to reveal bank account credentials. But for resourceful scammers, your Facebook account can be just as valuable if your following is big enough.

#6 Friend Money Requests

Once they get into your account, they change security data to lock you out. With full control, they may take advantage of your relationships to ask money from followers, friends, and relatives.

After a few messages, some will accept the request and send it to their Paypal via “Friends and Family:” no refunds.

Take a look at the topic of fake Paypal accounts.

With one Facebook account, they scammed you and some of your friends. They blame you for the mistake.

Imagine they get into your account and read your conversations, but you stop the scam on time and get them out. If they find you talking of any money matter, they could message the same person using a cloned account.

#7 Celebrity Cash Giveaways

A common scam you’ll see in social media this year is giveaways. You find these superrich people streaming interviews while throwing some cash for generosity. Here are some examples:

These often happen on Youtube. The streamer can go viral from using a new account, hide the like-dislike numbers, and turn comments off. But Facebook is just as susceptible.

More often than not, they run giveaway events with cryptocurrency to keep transactions anonymous. In all examples, you find the video-interview plus the giveaway instructions:

Here’s our favorite: “Each user can only claim it once.” It implies you should take the largest offer to double more money. But trust us, after you try it once, you won’t want to do it again, hence the one-time limit. 

Nobody sends money back.

These events run for over five hours until some admin finds out. Then, the person suspends the event, deletes the account, and simply retries again with another celebrity name next week.

Why do you need to send people money on a giveaway?

Don’t Get Ripped Off: How To Screw Scammers And Secure Your Account.

We spent most of our online time talking to people we never met. If the wrong person can steal your accounts, that’s literally like ruining all your virtual life, including subscriptions, reputation, privacy, and money.

Given how easy it is for identity thieves to hide, some of them live off of these practices. If you don’t want to be a target, do this:

#1 Learn to recognize safe VS risky payment methods

Whether you’re on Facebook or some other platform, avoid complicated procedures or unsafe payment methods. We don’t know what that stranger offered you, but payment scams are the easiest way to promise without delivering.

Your best red flags include wire transfers, gift cards, money orders, checks, and unprotected Paypal transfers. Some will propose the last one as an excuse to save you money on fees, provided that you don’t plan to ask for a refund.

A very popular payment scam is done with services such as Western Union or Moneygram.

Any stranger you meet on Facebook for money matters is worth questioning. You will recognize scammers the moment they send you the classic text wall of long payment instructions, follow-ups included. Your intuition will warn you before even reading.

#2 Stay on Facebook**

Websites have the trusted device feature for a reason. Once you log into your device, you don’t need to enter the details again unless you close the session. If you don’t like typing your password every time, you can use other options:

If none of these options work, you’re not on Facebook. If you find your session closed, it could be a fake login page. Check the domain spelling.

Most sites keep the session open for thirty days, then close it. But the real platform can steal your information too (in the rare case of DNS poisoning). The domain spells the website right, but you landed on a copy of Facebook. 

Although you can’t recognize DNS scams nor stop scammers from doing them, they only last a few hours. Use the Facebook mobile app instead.

#3 Beware of messages you never received

Facebook is too big to message users individually. They create automated email sequences to notify you whenever they make changes. If you don’t consider them relevant and mark it as spam, you should get any of them.

If you get Facebook emails, but you unsubscribed from their list, guess what. Someone is using their name (check for email address misspellings).

A novice scammer can make formatting mistakes, not hide phishing links well, or make the call-to-action very evident. Look for these red flags to tell real from fake messages.

As a rule of thumb, ignore or delete Facebook messages if you never got them before, including emails and SMS. You can block and report to get less of those in the future. The question is, how did they know your email?

#4 Extra layers of security

Passwords are no longer secure in the new 20s. The most reliable methods include self-updating codes (2nd-factor authentification), biometrics, and facts only you know about yourself.

If it bothers you to spend 5-minutes to login to your “bunker” account, update your list of trusted devices. You’ll need to go through these when using a new phone or computer.

Both Google and Facebook now request 2FA codes. Whenever a new device signs in to your account, you get a security alert. Unfortunately, scammers are getting smarter, and some of the notifications you receive can be fake emails.

Unless you learned about phishing tricks, you could update your password in response to a fake alert and lose your account.

#5 Extra security layers for friends and family

Your social circle should be smart enough to recognize what decisions make sense and which ones don’t. So that nobody can fool them, create a simple security procedure whenever you ask them for money.

If your friends get a money request from you on Facebook, what should they do? Ask you a security question? Make a video call for confirmation?

Protecting your friends is protecting yourself. Learn what to do when friends ask for money and teach them to treat requests the same way. Teach them some simple tips to prevent phishing links, such as hovering on it, checking the domain, or revealing shortened URLs.

You might get a request from a user with the same profile as your friend (claiming that he moved to another account). It’s not necessarily suspicious, but go back to their old account and ask them to confirm that change.

They may say they lost access to that profile. Message anyway. You may find out you were talking to two different people. But if they can’t access at all, a quick video call will work.

When talking of money, treat account switches cautiously.

#6 Choose who can see your profile

Most of the time, scammers need to reach out of the blue to take advantage of you. If you limit who can see your information, they won’t even get the chance to contact you.

Although people would like to show scammers their anger, the best weapon is blocking/ignoring them.

If you don’t think much when accepting requests or have too many friends, look if you can limit your profile to a handful of people: those you met in person and trust the most.

Friends of friends can work if your friends already know about scam prevention on social media. If you have a long list of followers, you won’t be able to prevent fake accounts from leaking. 

Not even your friends should see your profile other than the ones you picked, let alone the public profile.

Now that you know about Facebook scam prevention, this step may be unnecessary. But be ready to waste time with dishonest people.

#7 Learn broadly and thoroughly about scams

Just like Google, you can find almost anything you want on Facebook. Besides, you can privately contact people and join groups. Most marketers use it as the no.1 platform, more than Google Adwords.

So people can also use Facebook as a means to commit any fraud imaginable. Unless you have a basic level of awareness, it’s a matter of time you fall for one on Facebook. 

Because there’s always someone who can outsmart you, and scammers update tactics periodically, one can never learn enough about fraud. That’s why on our website, we’re constantly revealing new schemes and how to protect against them. 

We hope this guide raised your awareness about Facebook scams, which can really happen on any social media platform. If you think this content can help people protect their money, do them a favor and share this page with your Facebook friends.