Dangerous Facebook threat targeting social media accounts

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Cybercriminals have put Facebook in the top 5 spots of the most dangerous big tech companies being leveraged for scams.  As a result, Facebook users are more likely to be targeted with clever phishing attacks.

Phishing attacks most commonly appear in the form of deceptive links in a text, email or social media posts.  They are designed with one goal in mind: Lure honest people into clicking legit-looking sites in order to steal information, financial credentials and manipulate you.

After financial services which account for 35% of the most impersonated brands being used to create fake out phishing pages, big tech and social media come in a close second.

Experts combing through 185,000 fake sites used in 2021 to trap people into giving them access or money began to notice a disturbing trend in when attacks are most likely to happen.

That’s where Facebook is taking home the prize for cybercriminals using fake Facebook pages to scam people. And ironically research conducted by global security firm Vade discovered that the most dangerous days of the week for phishing attacks on Facebook.

The two most dangerous days of the week for Facebook

Facebook phishing scams most often happen on Mondays and Thursdays.   It also turns out that phishing scammers do most of their criminal work Monday through Friday when 80% of all attacks occur weekdays.  Don’t start thinking they just want weekends off like the rest of us.  Criminals strike using sophisticated algorithms on the days of the week that yield the most out of an attack.

With freedom of speech arguments and fighting off misinformation, and helping spread phishing attacks, Facebook is trying to be seen in a different light by renaming itself, Meta. This is the moment we insert the old adage: A leopard can’t change its spots.

Meta’s Facebook and WhatsApp continue to allow threats to be present on their platforms.  They talk a big game about security, but when it comes to action, security remains a low priority compared with their focus harvesting every private detail of your life that they can.  So, it really is up to you and me to protect ourselves against the big names being used for troublemaking.

Most dangerous big name impersonations

Watch out for spoof pages looking like the real thing from this list.

• PayPal
• Chase
• Wells Fargo
• Facebook
• WhatsApp
• Amazon
• DHL
• Netflix
• Linkedin
• Apple
• Microsoft

Signs your Facebook account has been hacked

• Your email address has changed
• Your password has been changed.
• Your name or birthday has been changed
• Check for sent friend requests to see if any were sent to people you do not know
• Check your messenger for messages sent as you but you did not write
• Posts you did not create appear on your feed as if from you

 

How to avoid a Facebook phishing attack

• Think twice before clicking any link sent to you
• Don’t trust messages that demand money, offer gifts, or threaten to delete or disconnect you or your Facebook account
• Only trust email sent from official addresses at fb.com, facebook.com, and facebookmail.com
• Don’t respond to suspicious emails such as any asking for your password, social security number, or credit card.
• Turn on two-factor authentication on Facebook to make your account stronger.

TIP:  Here’s how to turn on two-factor authentication: Go to your Security and Login Settings within Facebook > Scroll down and select to Use two-factor authentication > click Edit > choose the security method you want to add such as a text to your phone number

 

Best protection from phishing attacks and Facebook scams

The single most important thing you can do to protect yourself from phishing attacks is to download and deploy good Antivirus protection on each of your devices. Good protection can prevent new and emerging threats that come within a phishing attack. You either want it to disable a link to a known threat, mark it as a threat, or both. Here’s my review of the best Antivirus protection picks for 2022 which includes the top pick TotalAV protection.

Deal for CyberGuy readers: $19 your first year (80% off)

 

Think you’ve been scammed by a Facebook phishing scheme?

This most often happens when we get tricked to accidentally type in our username and/or password from a link in an email, text or another social media post. If you can still log in to your Facebook account, the first thing to do is reset your password.  If you are locked out of your Facebook account, go to the Recover your Account page.

More: Protect yourself on Facebook now