Is a foreign prince in need of your social media account information? Is a marketer from a country you can't pronounce asking for your manuscript? Is a book club without a meeting schedule offering to pay you to speak?
Yeah, well... they're fake. Fake. Fake. Faaaaake. 🤷♀️
While most of us can spot a scammer from a hundred yards off, many can't. According to Firewall Times, 2021 saw a massive data breach within Facebook's supposedly tight portals when 533 million FB users' personal information was spread over the internet. And while Firewall presents 2023 as a year of lesser attack, it doesn't account for the single accounts being breached by bots FB seems to ignore. This lack of attention and response forces users to safeguard personal accounts as if blocking rising tides. It's a fact now, and if you're not taking measures to ensure your data stays locked behind a hardened firewall, you're at risk... and so is everyone who engages your page. This blog will explore practical strategies to spot scammers and protect your social media accounts from threats.
Don't Ignore the Red Flags:
1. Strange 'Bed-follows':
As writers and readers, sharing an open/public forum carries risk. While we'd like to welcome everyone, doing so is not worth the danger of losing your page, your bank account information, or your personal information. It's okay to be wary of followers with questionable profiles. If a follower spams your threads with "Follow me!", "I'm in!", "Count me in!" or other similar nonsensical rhetoric, the chances their profile is fake are critically high. Block them immediately. Take no prisoners. Carry ZERO regret. Block them!
2. Offers of Collaboration and Cries for Help:
Scammers often use enticing promises of easy money, job opportunities, or exclusive deals to lure victims. If a writer or reader friend messages you with offers of help (marketing, proofreading, editing), RUN right to their page, hit the three dots by their profile, and click BLOCK!
3. Unsolicited Messages with Suspicious Links:
If a stranger sends me a link, it's an immediate BLOCK from me. Scammers use phishing links to steal login credentials or install spyware/malware on your device. BLOCK!
4. Inconsistent or Sketchy Profiles:
Look for inconsistencies in profile information, such as mismatched names, photos, and details. Look for follower engagement. If a page is legitimate, the page owner will engage consistently with followers within threads. Fake profiles often lack personal connections and may have limited or generic content.
5. Help! I'm trapped in Nonexistentstan, and I need your bank account information!:
This seems obvious, but thousands of SM users are duped yearly by scammers "in need." If someone insists on immediate actions, such as sending a book, MS, money, or sharing personal information, BLOCK them immediately!
Protecting Your Social Space for Yourself AND Your Page Guests:
1. Check Content Moderation:
Set Content Moderation to control who can follow your page and/or which words can be used on your page. While many page owners add profanity filters to their content mods, they often don't realize taglines and keywords scammers use to infiltrate a page can also be added. Listing those key phrases (Count Me In, Add Me, Follow Me, etc...) will significantly restrict their access to your page and protect legitimate followers who enjoy engaging with your content.
2. Clean Pages... Dirty, Dirty Threads:
Even legitimate pages can carry the scammer disease. Before following a page, check the threads on their profile. Find a post with a heavy comment thread and check its engagement. If you see dozens of scammer taglines and/or key phrases, block the entire page immediately. Still in doubt? Open that page's 'Seach' option and type in any applicable scammer phrases. If dozens appear, block the entire page. It's NOT safe. While we strive to support our online friends and their pages, we cannot allow our own pages and our followers to be at risk by sloppy security measures.
3. Sound the Alarm:
Stay informed about common online scams and educate your friends and family. Sharing information about prevalent scams can help create a safer online community.
4. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) Is Our Friend:
2FA is there for a reason; it ensures added security. Two-factor authentication requires additional sign-in routes (email, cell phone) and sets a roadblock between your data (or your page followers) and the scammer's network of bots.
5. See a Scammer, Report a Scammer:
In spite of Facebook's DEFINITE lack of proactive effort to curb scammer profiles, I continue to report sketchy pages and profiles nearly daily. So should you! If you encounter a suspicious account, report it to the social media platform and BLOCK the user. Reporting helps platforms identify and remove fraudulent accounts, protecting other users from potential harm... supposedly.
6. Regularly Monitor Account Activity:
Schedule regular weekly data sweeps on your pages. Monitor your account activity and review every follower interacting with your page. I have my Data Day Wednesday where I check book and page stats AND review followers within active threads to ensure no scammers slipped under the radar. If you notice any unusual behavior, take immediate action, such as deleting their comment and BLOCKING their profile immediately.
7. Don't use the filthy 'S' or 'H' words:
If your page is hacked or if you suspect a scammer has infiltrated your page, the worst thing you can do is announce it on your page. Do NOT, under any circumstances, use the words Scam, Scammer, Spammer, or Hacked in their true spellings. Scammers input those words using FB's search avenue and ferret out floundering pages. They then inundate the thread under which those words are used to spread links that likely contain malware/spyware which can infect follower accounts. If those words must be used, scramble them or use other characters to change their true iterations.
As indie writers, we sometimes consider ourselves small potatoes against fancier dishes, but once our books are out of the nest, we're public entities like anyone else. As public entities with public profiles, writers must remain proactive in defending our online presence. By recognizing the red flags of potential scams and blocking them, we can create a more secure and enjoyable social media experience for ourselves and our online communities.
Stay informed and cautious. Our community depends on it.
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