***Scam Alert***

“Urgent: Your Meta Business Account Has Been Restricted”

We’ve noticed a lot of people have been posting about receiving a Facebook message seemingly from Meta  notifying you that your account has been restricted due to suspicious activity or a violation of the platform’s terms of service .  The message comes with a link which you’re invited to click to verify your account.

This is a scam, and to be precise it’s what is known as a Phishing Scam.

The link you are asked to click on will take you through to a Phishing website designed to allow scammers to steal you Login information, Information such as birth certificates or Copies of Photo ID’s, as well as credit card information.

Once this information is obtained it can be used to lock you out of your account, steal money and or commit identity fraud.

It’s really important to avoid clicking on any unsolicited links, even if they look like they are from an authentic source.  It’s particularly important to never give out any passwords or login credentials to anyone.  It’s also a really good idea to set up and enable two factor authentication on all your Social and email accounts and use unique and strong passwords for each account you have.

You can reduce the likelihood of being phished by thinking about what personal information you (and others) post about you, and by reviewing your privacy settings within your social media accounts.

The National Cyber Security Centre have a useful guide on how to do this:

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/social-media-how-to-use-it-safely

 

If you have received a message or email like this then you can report these to the NCSC by sending a copy to

report@phishing.gov.uk

If you think you’ve been a victim of an online scam or fraud (including losing money or being hacked) you can contact Action Fraud:

report online:

https://reporting.actionfraud.police.uk/login

– either sign up for an account or continue as a ‘guest’

Or call:

0300 123 2040

 

We hope this helps!