How I lost €4k in a Facebook scam

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Content source

https://github.com/Niek/Niek/blob/master/facebook-scam/README.md

TLDR: don't click ads if you don't trust them 100%

This is a cautionary tale of how I lost close to €4,000 in a sophisticated Facebook scam. I still find it hard to believe I fell for a scam like this. I have 2FA on all my accounts, use a password manager, and I'm generally very cautious with account security.

To recap:

• Total spent: €8,235.82 (of which I was charged €3,990.17)
• Total impressions: 3,184,933
• Total reach: 2,674,194
• Total conversions: 2,126 "send message" clicks

I am still waiting on a decision from Facebook if they are going to refund the charge. In the meantime, I have done the following:

• Changed my Facebook and PayPal passwords
• Invalidated all signed in devices/tokens
• Reported the fake TikTok Ads Business page to Facebook - no reponse yet
• Reported the fake TikTok Ads Business app to Google - the app was taken down 2 days later
• Initiated a PayPal chargeback process - PayPal responded: "we’ve determined there was no unauthorized use"

Read the full story here:

Niek/facebook-scam/README.md at master · Niek/Niek

My GitHub profile. Contribute to Niek/Niek development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[ErzCrz]

Lots of scams going around right now. We've been bombarded with 5 x Ionos ones today alone and a fake automated Amazon Renewal call.

Just don't do anything with cold calls and never click email links. Oh and I'd never trust anything from Facebook.

 

[TairikuOkami]

One more reason for me not to trust smartphones and apps in general. It bypasses 2FA, the user is considered trusted, since it is his verified phone.

After entering my phone number and email, the app asked me to log in with Facebook to get the credits. After logging in with my Facebook, ...

I wonder whether he logged in via FB app or he actually entered his username/password? Like in any other common phishing? Steam for example.

Initiated a PayPal chargeback process - PayPal responded: "we’ve determined there was no unauthorized use"

I was thinking about linking my credit card with FB. It does not look like such a good idea now.

 

[shmu26]

Wow, that was a tricky one. You would have to be almost pathologically suspicious not to fall for it.

 

[Moonhorse]

Glad i dont even do have online bank account + phone number is hidden and ive restricted all payments so i cant do any payments with the mobile