Facebook is the largest social media network having a user base of almost three billion. Almost every person from a family is now on this platform. The convenience of Facebook lies in its ability to connecting with any person around the world, seeing their activity, and starting communicating with them.
With this super gigantic user base, the chance of exploitation has also been increased. From phishing to false broadcasting, from false contests to identity theft, phishing is not limited to any particular aspects only. Almost every person is susceptible to Facebook Scams, whether the person is young and mindful to an elder person with not much technical knowledge.
What do we know about Scamming on Facebook?
One thing must be understood about different frauds being happening in Facebook is that a person will be offered something lucrative that is otherwise illegible or unreal to get. It might come in a form of emails that would offer you very easy investment schemes with very good returns, or you might get something very credible looking, like an email from Facebook itself, saying you have lost access to your account and claiming Facebook account recovery by clicking a link. Once you do that, your sensitive information will be shared with them or you might even lose money.
Different types of Scams on Facebook:
Phishing: In this type of Scams, your sensitive information such as your credit card information, login credentials, address, or ID card number is leaked to the scammer. Most of the time such defrauds happened by creating a clone Facebook site and then forcing you to logging in there by providing you a link and a lucrative offer.
Giveaways:Such Scams will tell you to participate in a fake contest and it will offer you overgenerous prizes. No matter who participates in the contest, everyone is a winner and in order to claim the prize you need to share your personal information or login credentials. Online fraud recovery is necessary in such because most of the time you will lose money in the process.
Fake IDs: In order to trick people into paying money or divulging personal information, scammers build false profiles that mimic famous people, companies, or acquaintances. They might make posts, initiate private messages, or submit friend requests. Warning signs of such Facebook Scams include profiles with little activity, strange names, and demands for personal information or money.
Malicious downloads: These types of Scams will prompt the users to download malicious application or files or take them to the harmful website that will expose the credential and security of the user.
How do you avoid being scammed on Facebook?
The first golden rule to remember to safeguard your account and save yourself from being scammed on Facebook is not clicking on suspicious link or downloading any attachments. No matter how lucrative the link looks, it is nothing but a trap to steal your information. Most of the time 3rd party apps and browser extensions are how these scams start. You can avoid Facebook Scams easily if you avoid sharing your social security numbers, financial details, or your login credentials.
Certain measures can be taken to safeguard you from Scams – login alert activations, security check ups from time to time, avoid offers that are too good to be true, etc. However, if you have fallen victim to a Facebook Scam anyway, it is better to report it as soon as possible to an online scam recovery UK agency.