If you have spent any amount of time on Facebook lately, you have probably noticed that it has become a major advertising platform. However, as careful and detailed as the Facebook screening and security programs are, scammers still seem to find a way to get their products promoted on the social media platform.

The thing is, the scammer’s ad will look legitimate. You know, something like a 2TB backup drive that would ordinarily sell for $100 or more, will be advertised at the amazing price of $50. That’s literally half price and you should hear a voice in your head when you see such a deal reminding you that if it looks too good to be true… it probably is a scam.

Clicking The Ad

Clicking on the link will take you to a website that looks legit and has what appears to be a secure payment platform as well. You weave your way through the purchasing process, enter your credit card information, add your billing address, and anything else you would normally do when making an online purchase. It looks so real that you won’t even have a clue that you are getting scammed.

Order Fulflillment

The payment will process and you will be taken to a success page and will be reminded to wait until your order fulfills. However, unless you haven’t already figured out where this is going, the order fulfillment will not happen. You will not receive an email confirmation and no one will follow up. You will wait a week or a month before you realize that something is up.

The next thing you should do is contact your bank and explain what has happened. The transaction will appear on your statement as coming from “Facebook Merchant” and most banks will reverse the transaction without investigation. That’s because they have seen it before and are no strangers to scams like this. While you’re at it, you should change your credit card number because there is a chance that the scammers may use your card again in the future. Remember, they now have all your credit card information.

Known Scheme

As it turns out, this is a very well-known scheme that spent a fair amount of time trending on entertainment websites that featured questionable content. The hook on those was in the form of banner ads that urged you to make a purchase that resulted in you getting scammed. Facebook, on the other hand, is not one of those websites and for them to permit these types of scams to take place on their platform does raise a few questions. What compounds the problem is that these scammer ads remain active on the Facebook business platform for months after they have been reported.

What happens next is that some of these accounts will duplicate these scamming ads many times over and sadly, they continue to scam countless people daily. This raises even more questions about how Facebook operates and what they do to raise their capital.

So, what should you do when you come across one of these ads?

Careful Where You Click

Click on the name of the owner of the ad you are interested in. If it is a legitimate ad, you should be redirected to the Facebook business profile of the source of that ad. It should also show you all other available ads that have been placed by the same source. This means you should be safe dealing with this seller.

Identifying A Scam

If when you click on the source of the ad you arrive at a business page that shows you multiple duplicates of the same posting, you are very likely dealing with a scammer. The logical thing to do at this point is to report the ad/scammer to Facebook right away. Since social media platform operators are reactive as opposed to proactive, the more reports they receive about someone scamming others, the quicker Facebook will respond.

During these challenging times, it is tough on everyone. However, that should not justify having hard-working people scammed by those who don’t care and are only online to take advantage of the situation. Be careful out there but be far more cautious when you are shopping online.