↓
 
Home→News→Do you have a presence on Facebook? Watch for this possible scam    

Do you have a presence on Facebook? Watch for this possible scam

Sooke PocketNews Posted on by

A Facebook account by the name of “Policy Privacy” appears to be sharing posts from a number of Facebook business pages, along with a message that might lead the owners to think their page is at risk of being closed down by Facebook.

Below is the forwarded message text on a Sooke PocketNews post:

Facebook Policy Privacy Scam

There are a few indications that this may not be an actual, official Facebook notification.

  • First clue: the URL is not Facebook.com
  • Second clue: the URL is not Facebook.com
  • Third clue: the URL is not Facebook.com

Beyond these three very obvious clues, there are also other indications.

  • A GoDaddy whois search indicates that the landing URL (besides not being Facebook.com) was registered on March 31, 2016. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure Facebook has existed longer than a few weeks.
  • The oldest post (from April 28, 2016) is a poor-quality image hack of the Facebook logo (see below).
  • The landing page returns a 404 error (but the rule of thumb is: DON’T CLICK!).
  • The typo, “Dear Costumer..!!” that can be found on their Facebook page. Unless, of course, the owner of the page is addressing people who wear costumes, in which case it might be legit.
  • The bad grammar, “This will result in your account is closed.” Equally nifty is their choice of words in describing their “service collaboration.” That one sounds to be straight out of some Dilbert executive translator.
  • An official notice of a Facebook Page closure notice would probably not be issued by way of a Sharing one of your Posts.
Facebook Policy Privacy Scam oldest post

The oldest post on this Policy Privacy page

Fear is an amazing marketing tool (Want to know more? Read the article on “Fear Marketing” in the resources below. Best examples of fear marketing are on display everyday in both political and cosmetic ads though…). Train yourself to not respond instantaneously on alerts such as these. More often than not, they are phishing scams (where someone tries to access your account information, passwords, usernames, etc).

The following five steps can save your sanity should you have the misfortune of encountering $&%&!@ scams like this one.

  1. First, breathe in deeply. Get some oxygen into your grey matter.
  2. Next, look deeper, do some research.
  3. If you haven’t already, exhale.
  4. Following, familiarize yourself with common scam tactics. The more you know, the more you’ll see through it the next time you encounter it.
  5. Lastly, take appropriate action. If you can report it, do so. Report it to the the body that has the authority to take action. In this case, the proper authority would be Facebook, as it is their trademarks that are being infringed upon, AND they are in a position to close the account. A call to the RCMP or the Office of Consumer Affairs (Gov of Canada) would probably not result in much action.

SPN has reported this Policy Privacy page to Facebook.

Bottom line: Don’t be scared, be informed. And, if you have to (and can), take action.

–Britt Santowski, SPN

Resources

Previous SPN scam alerts

Comments are closed.

↑