Receiving an ‘account disabled’ message can first appear scary, but is it real or just another phishing hoax we need to be careful of?
You’re probably familiar with phishing emails but a new wave of hoax messages are now being sent out over Facebook, reminding us of how careful we must all be when using the internet not to be drawn into any traps. Criminals are becoming much more sophisticated about how they target victims and get hold of their details, so it is important to always question anything suspicious and report it if you are unsure.
The latest Facebook hoax as detailed here explains about the message that customers are receiving, seemingly from the Facebook Ads Team claiming that your account has been found in violation of terms of service. It goes on to say that your account will be shut down for safety reasons. This is in fact a phishing scam which is aimed at getting hold of your Facebook account login identifications and then later your credit card details and personal information. Then can then use this information to gain access of your bank accounts and steal your money.
How should you respond?
Like with many other phishing emails, the advice is to never click any links within the message. This only directs you to their false set up websites which mimic the real ones, convincing you that they are the actual company.
They will go to great lengths to convince you that they are real. They will even use the real headers and logos that you would expect to see on the real company’s site. A recent phishing scam using Wonga SA’s details found many customers convinced of the same, which is why Wonga acted quickly to set up a fraud hotline so that any unsure customers or victims of the phishing mail could immediately gain advice on the authenticity of the messages.
So, get onto Facebook’s real website straight away, typing in the URL directly into the search bar, so that you know you won’t be directed to a scammer’s site. You can then gain advice about what to do next. If you haven’t acted on the message, the advice would probably be to delete the message and ignore any future correspondence from that sender. If you did act on the message, originally convinced it was Facebook, you may need to secure your cards and information. You may want to seek further help from Action Fraud – they can help you to figure out what to do next.
The big message here is AWARENESS. Make sure you question any messages that could be from a different source. Don’t give out personal information and never click on the message’s URLs, even to investigate further. Also, don’t reply to the message – this only validates your email address to the scammers who might target you again in the future.
