I Almost Fell for a Facebook Phishing Scam!

·  I received a suspicious message about my Facebook account that seemed official but felt off.

·  Checking the language and links revealed it was a phishing attempt.

·  Always verify suspicious messages and links—trust your instincts to avoid scams.

·  Stay cautious, question everything, and never rush to click or share personal information

If you’ve been following tech or online security, you know scammers are always one step ahead. It feels like you blink, and boom—another scam appears. But here’s the twist: sometimes, you don’t even need to blink. You just need to be in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. And that could happen to you just as easily as it happened to me.

Less than a day after we published the article, “Google Takes On Scammers with New AI-Powered Scam Detection Features,” I received a message on our Facebook page from an account named SP Carlotta. At first, I wasn’t alarmed, but when I opened it, things got interesting. The message was in Italian, which immediately struck me as odd.

Running it through a translation app, I got this:

“Your page has been disabled. Your Facebook page violates our Community Standards. Our system has received reports from several people regarding the following issues: copyright infringement, fake ID, privacy violation, violation of terms of service. Please note that disabled accounts cannot be restored, and all content posted on your account, including photos and personal information, will be permanently deleted. If you believe this deactivation is a mistake, we recommend submitting a complaint to Meta’s business support using the link below: (suspicious link in the image below). Please confirm within 48 hours. Otherwise, your page will be removed from our database and will no longer be accessible to users. Please confirm within 48 hours. Otherwise, your page will be removed from our database and will no longer be accessible to users.“

I stared at it for a second, not because I was panicking, but because something felt off. First, the language. I’m pretty sure that if Meta were ever going to send me an account violation message, it wouldn’t be in Italian. Second, the link. Facebook and Meta have official support domains like facebook.com or meta.com—this one was something completely different, ending in “my.id,” which screamed fake. To be absolutely sure, I checked my Facebook page’s status, and just as I expected, there were no violations. No warnings. Nothing. This was definitely a scam.

At this point, curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see just how deep this rabbit hole went. Now, before you judge me, let me be clear: clicking on suspicious links is NOT recommended. But I had to know. So, against all the standard advice I’d usually give, I clicked it.

The page I landed on was designed to look like an official Meta page, warning me that ‘access to my account is limited’ and that I needed to ‘apply higher security requirements.’ It was structured to create a sense of urgency, making me feel like I had no choice but to take action. Right below it was a big blue ‘Proceed’ button. I must admit, it’s kind of sleek. And that’s where they almost got me. If I had clicked that ‘Proceed’ button, I probably would have handed over my login credentials, personal details, and who knows what else. A quick online search about this type of scam revealed that it’s been around for a while, constantly changing tactics but sticking to the same theme—creating urgency and instilling just enough fear to make you second-guess yourself.

Luckily, my instincts kicked in. Everything about the page screamed phishing. No official Meta branding beyond the copied logo, no verifiable links to real Facebook support pages, just a desperate attempt to get me to surrender my information. I backed out immediately and took a moment to think about how easy it would have been for someone less familiar with these tactics to fall for it. The scammers were clever. They picked the perfect bait—a page admin, fresh off publishing an article about scams, targeted with a scam of their own. After this experience, I did my due diligence to double-check my system. I ran my antivirus—clean. I checked Task Manager—no suspicious programs running. My computer speed is normal. Everything seems fine… well, fingers crossed that it stays that way in the next few days.

This whole experience was a reminder of just how sophisticated phishing attempts have become. While they’re no longer the sloppy, broken-English scams of the past, they look real, create urgency, and instill just enough fear to make you second-guess yourself. But in my case, the use of a foreign language raised my suspicions and made me realize something was off. It goes to show that even the most convincing scams can have small red flags—if you know where to look. Fortunately, there are ways to spot them. If a message like this ever lands in your inbox, take a moment before reacting. Check the language. If it’s in a language you don’t normally use, that’s already a red flag. Carefully examine the links—official Facebook or Meta support URLs always come from facebook.com or meta.com, not some random domain. Trust your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is. Instead of clicking any links, manually check your account’s status through Facebook’s official settings. If you suspect something is a scam, report it immediately. And above all, never enter your login credentials on a site you don’t fully trust.

I’m lucky that I caught this one in time. But not everyone is so fortunate. The internet is full of these scams just waiting for someone to slip up. The best thing you can do is stay cautious, question everything, and never, ever trust a message that pressures you to act immediately. If you ever get a message like this, pause, verify, and protect yourself to avoid becoming their next victim.

Image Credit: MohdKafiiIsa@Dreamstime