With spam emails getting more and more sophisticated, it has become very challenging to know whether or not something is legitimate. In addition to this, there are real notifications that come from Meta and when ignored, can lead to a suspended account or Page.
How do you distinguish between what is real and fake? We’ve compiled a list of five things to look for when you receive these types of emails.
- Who is the email from? Look at the email address versus the name of the email sender. If it is anything other than an email ending in @facebookmail.com (the legitimate email of Facebook support), then it is a scam. Sometimes you’ll see something like this: [email protected] which is intended to make you think it’s from Facebook, when in fact, it’s a free Gmail account which has been set up to mimic a legitimate email.
- Is the email asking you to reply with your login and password or any other account information? Facebook or any of their affiliates will NEVER ask you to send account information or credit card information via email. You will always be directed to login to your account via a link.
- Is the grammar correct? This is a fairly easy way to detect a scam. The sentences in the email will feel disjointed and the grammar will be poor.
- Is there an attachment to the email? Some scams will include some kind of file attached to the email and ask you to download it. Facebook will never ask you to do this.
- When there is a link or button in the email, does the corresponding URL look suspicious? Many browsers and some email programs on desktop computers will allow you to hover over a button or link and display the URL before you click it. If the URL isn’t facebook.com, instagram.com or meta.com, it is likely a scam.
When in doubt, don’t engage with an email. In a separate tab or window in your browser, navigate to Facebook and login as usual. Check your notifications for anything resembling the message you received via email. Sometimes they will be buried amongst the other notifications from comments, Likes etc. so you’ll need to dig.