Latest Facebook Phishing Scam: ‘Account in Violation of Terms of Service’
You suddenly get a warning message seemingly from the Facebook Ads Team claiming that your account has been found in violation of terms of service and will be shut down for safety reasons. In a nutshell: This is a hoax and a false message, it’s in fact a phishing scam intended to snip your Facebook account login identifications along with your credit card details and related personal information.
Detailed explanation:
This con ‘warning’, is a false alarm not sent by the Facebook Ads team via Facebook’s messaging system; it makes false claims of your account to be violating the company’s terms of service and its immediate closure for safety concerns. The message entails numerous reasons for its violation and uses a rather difficult terminology to define that if we do not comply as directed Facebook will forcibly close the account rendering you unable to reopen it.
It implores you to click a “link” to confirm your identification as a genuine account holder instead of a con artist faking to interfere with people’s lives. Though, the message is fake and not at all issued as an official warning by Facebook. It’s another feather in the “phishing cap” as an ongoing series of Facebook phishing scams planned to steal your account login credentials alongside other personal and financial information.
If you buy the fabricated and deceitful claims in the message and follow the instructions, you will be re-directed to a fake web page that looks like Facebook with the same blue colored logo, once there, you will then be requested to log in with your Facebook username and password as below:
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Once you have put in your login details on the bogus site, you will be taken for a ride by being requested to fill in your credit card details:
Time for the roller coaster as you are probably redirected to the real Facebook website:
For now, the criminals involved in this scam may hijack your Facebook account with the stolen login details. Once there, they can alter it to grind their own axes and abuse the messaging system to direct similar scam message versions to all of your Facebook contacts. Watch out, as they may even exploit the stolen credit card particulars to commit duplicitous transactions pretending to be you. Beware of any message from Facebook falsely claiming that your account will be suspended or disabled if you choose to ignore the message. Facebook will never send you such fraudulent messages demanding such actions. If anything Facebook will send you notifications within your account inbox if there is an accounting concern that requires your attention.
It is recommended to login to Facebook through an official App or by entering the address into the browser’s address bar instead of clicking links.
