Despite the efforts of users to detect scams, the ingenuity of scammers is increasing and they end up obtaining information from users with illegal practices. Lately we are seeing an increase in scams coming from supposedly Facebook scam emails. So I'm going to give you some tricks to detect fraudulent emails.
Tricks to detect alleged Facebook scams
Throughout the week or even on the same day, we can receive many notifications in the email about Facebook. Depending on how we have our account configured, we will receive more or less emails from the platform. These messages normally notify us of any friend suggestions, mentions or other notifications.
But on other occasions it catches our attention to receive messages from the Facebook platform but with most alarming issues. In these cases all our alarms should go off since it could be a scam. But How can we know if it is a scam?
It's not easy, but There are tricks that help us detect scams through supposed Facebook emails.
Check if it comes from @facebookmail.com
The first trick you should do to avoid falling into scams is to check who the email is from. To do this, you must keep in mind that official emails from Facebook always They have the same ending: @facebookmail.com.
We can find different emails with this ending, the most typical are friendssuggestion@facebookmail.com for friendship suggestions, birthdays@facebookmail.com to remind you of your contacts' birthdays, reminders@facebookmail.com to remind you of notifications that you have unread or mentions@facebookmail.com which tells you that you have been mentioned on the platform.
Although there are more, these are the most common and help you get the idea that if it has @facebookmail.com behind it, it is a reliable email.
Always avoid giving data or downloading files
Sometimes, no matter how cautious we are, we can come across scam emails that bypass our alerts and we open them without any problem. But The problem is not exactly in opening the email itself., but rather by clicking on links within the email or even downloading and opening the attached files.
Es It is essential to avoid downloading attachments of suspicious emails from Facebook or any sender. Especially if we do not know for sure where this email comes from. Of course, in addition to avoiding suspicious downloads, never provide personal information via email.
And in the specific case of Facebook, if you have to carry out any management of the platform or your account, never do it through websites external to Facebook. If you need to change your password or simply recover your Facebook account, do it the right way and never through suspicious links.
Check the address of the links
Many times, scammers use websites and emails that simulate other famous institutions to give the impression of authority. There are some that even recreate almost perfectly the websites they are using as bait and it is practically impossible to detect if it is a fake page.
The problem with these websites is that they usually have a small change in direction that makes them very similar to the originals. Sometimes they change an "o" for a "0" or simply add a "." in the middle of the URL. On other occasions they may even adopt a different extension. Instead of .com or .es you can find .se or another unconventional ending.
To avoid falling into this trap always try to hover over the link to see the real url. Review it or Google it to see if it is reliable before clicking on the link.
Typical scam messages
In addition to the tricks that I have told you, I am going to indicate some of the most used messages for this type of scams that use Facebook as bait. As I told you at the beginning, They are usually alarming messages They want to cause you concern and cause you to enter the email without investigating its origin.
Let's look at the typical subjects used to scam Facebook users.
- Your Facebook account has been suspended, verify your data.
- You've won a Facebook prize!
- URGENT, Your password has expired.
- Unusual activity was detected on your account, check it now.
Always be wary of these issues in emails, even if they come from senders you know. Also if you are on a computer, Hover over the link to see the actual URL before clicking and if you are on mobile Press and hold the link to analyze it.
And of course, keep your antivirus updated whenever you can to protect your device in case it has been infected with malware. Here I leave you the best antivirus for your computer according to the Organization of Consumers and Users of Spain.
What if have you received a scam message like these I would like you to leave it in the comments so that other users can learn the typical tricks of online scammers.