A new form of scam in the social network Facebook where the accounts of users who advertise advertising on the platform using their credit cards are being stolen.
Scammers steal tens of thousands of dollars worth of ads on Facebook and openly brag about the money they are making from the scheme directly from the platform.
“A Christmas Santa Claus decoration on a stripper pole, let’s be honest, who the hell wants that?” According to Loni Mayse, a digital marketer who knew something was wrong, when ten of the Facebook ad accounts she manages began to run ads for $ 15,000 a day.
“They were on about ten of my accounts in a matter of minutes,” Mayse explained, “all running this ad. It also bypassed all Facebook security protocols. “
In addition, say that the scammers quickly added two unauthorized users within their Business Manager profile, in the Backend portal that allows administrators on social networks and thus, sellers run multiple Facebook pages and ad accounts from one board to change the names of Facebook pages.
What is the scam process?
-The scammers pose as someone looking to hire a manager for a Facebook ad company.
-Then they send a project proposal of what they are looking to do.
-They deliver a file disguised as a PDF, which gives you access to the Facebook Business manager.
What has Facebook done?
The company has provided information in its help center to prevent scams on its platform and has recently taken additional measures to warn users of possible suspicious activity.
Facebook says it is also developing a new account type so that users no longer have to use their personal Facebook logins to access Business Manager.
“Our teams work around the clock to detect and prevent fraud, safeguard data and help ensure our systems are secure,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. We have proactively released additional security advisories and tools to support our customers, and we encourage our advertisers to use all the security features of our products and adopt best practices to keep their accounts safe.
While the scammers are no longer inside Loni Mayse’s account, they are still on Facebook. In Alex Stiehel’s Facebook post warning his friends and followers about the scheme, there are dozens and dozens of user comments this week saying they just fell victim to this scam.
Nguyen Luan believes that the only thing that can stop these scams is to halt them at the payment processor level. If scammers can’t collect your funds through platforms like PayPal or Stripe, then most ecommerce scams will die out.
He explained how their emails and usernames tried to disguise what they were doing. In a case,
scammers tried to spoof Facebook support using an email address
fake customer service for the user who is added to the account.
In another, they added a fake profile using their own name, Loni Mayse, perhaps in an effort to make the duplicate look like a glitch and not an actual separate unauthorized account added to their Business Manager.
The scammers were also able to increase the billing threshold on their ad accounts, allowing them to spend more of Mayse and her clients’ funds. Mayse pointed out how this requires Facebook’s approval.
Agencies
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