Don’t click! Strange thing for an advertising agency to say but in this case it’s the right advice. We are fortunate enough (or not so fortunate depending on what update is being rolled out by the geeks at Meta) to work with Facebook and Instagram a lot. More and more we see clients coming to us with suspended ad accounts, lifetime bans from advertising and in some cases deleted profiles and business accounts. Why? Because they have been hacked or they have been involved in a hacking.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is great for several reasons. It is a great place to communicate and advertise but it is also a hot bed for scammers looking to get access to your profile and subsequently your business assets. We don’t want to scare anyone from using Facebook or Instagram, but we do want everyone to be careful. A rogue click can lead to your account being essentially rendered useless with the hope of re-entry at the end of a long and painful road… if it ever happens at all.
Even the most experienced social media users can be duped by some of the more sophisticated scams, after all they are designed to be easy to fall for. Our advice is not to click on anything that looks even the slightest bit out of place. Facebook and Instagram will only ever communicate with you in a professional way and will not threaten you with removal or suspension if you don’t get back to them immediately. Take your time, evaluate the notification/message/email and ignore it completely if it feels strange.
We have seen a number of scammers try and get our clients to verify their Facebook credentials using profiles that resemble Meta… names such as “VerfiCentre” or “Meta Appeal”. If you see anything in your notifications or messages that seems dodgy, it probably is. Our general rule is that if Meta is trying to get hold of you, they will try more than once so don’t be in a rush to reply. If in doubt… ignore and speak to your agency or marketing department.
There are a few things you can do to keep your social media accounts as safe as possible such as:
- Educate your employees. Make sure your employees know how to spot phishing scams and what to do if they receive one.
- Use a strong password manager. A password manager can help you create and store strong, unique passwords for all your online accounts.
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA adds an extra layer of security to your accounts by requiring you to enter a code from your phone in addition to your password when logging in.
- Be careful about what links you click on. If you receive a message from Facebook or another company, don’t click on any links in the message. Instead, go to the company’s website directly and log in from there.
As with all walks of life there are always a select few that try and take advantage of our vulnerabilities, online is not except form this. Protect yourself and your business assets by being extra careful. If in doubt, DON’T CLICK.
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