I wasn't planning on this post/topic this morning, but my inboxes thought otherwise.
I have two main email addresses and both had the same email in them this morning...
The sender was (apparently) security@facebookmail.com...
What followed was something similar to this:
It looks pretty legit, right?
Of course, the two different emails were sent at different times and had different reset codes... which was the giveaway. Had this been legit, they would have arrived at the exact same time and had the same code...
Anyway, this is a prevalent scam at the moment. If you fall for it and use the link to change your password, you will have just given a complete stranger total control of your Facebook account. Your Facebook account will be gone.
They even include a handy link at the bottom that says: "If you didn't request a new password, let us know." Believe me, if you click through that handy link "let us know", you will lose your Facebook account just as surely. (Though someone commented in the following article that they'd done that and it was a safe link, but I still wouldn't risk it.)
Whenever I receive something suspicious, I first do a quick search... "Facebook password reset code" and then add the word "scam" to my search. Very quickly, I found this article from My Antispyware.
The article linked includes some information about how you can tell it's fake, how to report it and what you can do if you fell for it - if you're quick. Sadly, if you're not quick, it's very likely that you will have lost your account permanently as Facebook itself isn't well known for helping you recover your account. :(
It appears that this is a relatively recent scam, the article I linked to having only originated in late July 2023, yet it seems to be very prolific already.
Please beware. There are a lot of shady people out there ready to prey on the vulnerable.
Sources
Image from the linked article - used for educational/awareness purposes.
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Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
(Buy my work at RedBubble, TeePublic, PicFair and DeviantArt.)
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(Buy my books at Books2Read and at LBRY)
