By REBECCA RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
For the Los Alamos Daily Post
Got a Facebook (Meta) business account? You’d better be ready for Meta copyright infringement-themed scams! If you get messages to your business email (or Messenger account) like below, think twice before you reply.
These scams try to imitate the actual Meta and try to make it sound like your business account has somehow done something wrong, usually implying you have infringed on some kind of copyrighted material. Yikes! See more info below.
From the above message, you can see that it comes from a totally random Gmail address. Why on earth would Meta send emails from random Gmail addresses? Simple—they would not. This should be your first of many clues that this is a scam.
Another big clue is the sense of urgency; you have 48 hours to respond or your account will be deactivated. Another clue—the absolute vagueness of the email. What exactly did you do wrong? What was the banned content, and why? This is never accurately explained, another reason to be suspicious.
Be wary of any emails or Messenger messages claiming to come from “Meta” or “Facebook”, especially if they come from random Gmail addresses. Most messages from Meta will be within the Facebook environment, e.g., messages via Messenger. Any emails from them would come from official Meta or Facebook email domains. If you receive any such message, examine it closely, and reach out to Facebook help via the official website and your account login, do not respond to any messages or interact in any way until you can confirm their authenticity.
Be wary of any messages, and don’t interact. You can also report suspicious Meta/Facebook-themed messages to phish@fb.com. Reminder – Facebook will never ask you for your password in an email or send you a password as an attachment.
Stay safe online, be suspicious and be aware of these kinds of scams to keep your Facebook/Meta business accounts safe! Special thanks to Debbie DeSimone for the tip off on this.
Image of Meta Copyright Scam message. Courtesy photo
Editor’s note: Rebecca Rutherford works in information technology at Los Alamos National Laboratory.