Fake Facebook account locked or verification message

What the message looks like

How this scam works

Scammers send these warnings by email, by Messenger from accounts named "Meta Support" or similar, and sometimes as comments or tags that trigger a real Facebook notification. A blue badge or a Meta logo is easy to copy and proves nothing.

Whatever you type on the fake page goes straight to the scammer. With your password and a fresh two-factor code, they can log in, change your email and phone, and lock you out. Meta says hijacked accounts are often used to message friends with scams or held hostage for money.

Real account problems show up inside Facebook. Meta says account alerts and messages from Facebook appear in your Support Inbox, that it will never ask for your password in an email, and that its representatives will never request money, passwords or payment details over chat or email. A "fee" to keep your account is a strong sign of a scam.

Red flags

• A deadline of 24 or 48 hours before your account or Page is locked, disabled or deleted.
• A link to a site that isn't facebook.com or meta.com, even if the address contains the word "facebook" or "meta".
• A login page that asks for your password and your two-factor code right after you clicked a warning.
• A request to pay a verification, appeal or reinstatement fee, or to send a photo of your ID or card.
• An email from an address that isn't one of Meta's domains, or a Messenger chat from a profile calling itself Meta support.

How to tell it’s fake

1. Don't use the link. Open the Facebook app or type facebook.com yourself, then check Help & support > Support Inbox. If the warning isn't there, it didn't come from Facebook.
2. For emails, Meta says it only sends from fb.com, facebook.com, facebookmail.com, instagram.com, meta.com and metamail.com (and their subdomains). Watch for misspellings. You can confirm security emails under Accounts Center > Password and security > Recent emails.
3. If you manage a Page or ad account, check Meta Business Support Home in Meta Business Suite for restrictions and reviews.
4. Still unsure? Ask someone you trust or a scam expert for a second look before you sign in or pay anything.

What to do if you clicked, paid or shared info

Don’t panic, and don’t blame yourself. These scams are built by professionals. Act quickly, one step at a time.

If you clicked a link or called back

• If you opened the link but didn't type anything, close the page and don't return. Report the message to Facebook, and forward suspicious emails that pretend to be Facebook to phish@fb.com, as Meta's help pages suggest.

If you paid

• If you paid a "verification" or "reinstatement" fee, contact your card issuer, bank or payment app right away, report the fraud and ask them to reverse the charge. Facebook accounts are free; nobody can sell you a review.

If you shared personal info, a password or a code

• If you entered your password, change it now from the real Facebook app or site, and change it anywhere else you use the same password.
• If you can't get in, or you see changes you didn't make, go to facebook.com/hacked, ideally on a device you've used with Facebook before.
• Log out of devices you don't recognize, turn on two-factor authentication (an authenticator app is a strong choice), and check that the email and phone on your account are yours.
• Warn friends and family not to trust unusual messages or money requests from your account until it's secure.

How Gmork Scam Guard would warn you

Scam Guard in Chrome and Edge on your computer checks the pages you open from emails and messages. It is built to flag sign-in pages that imitate a well-known brand like Facebook but aren't on that brand's real website, and warns before you type a password or code. It can't see messages inside the Facebook phone app, so on your phone, check your Support Inbox yourself.

Scam Guard can miss things, so the checks above still matter. See what it warns about and what it keeps private.

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Questions people ask

Will Facebook ever ask me to pay to keep my account?

Meta says its representatives will never request money, passwords or payment details over chat or email. Treat any fee to verify or keep your account as a scam.

I typed my password and code into the page. What now?

Change your password right away in the real app, log out unknown devices, and use facebook.com/hacked if anything has changed. Then turn on two-factor authentication.

The email really came from facebookmail.com. Is it safe?

Usually, but Meta has warned that some phishing links have been sent through real Business Manager partner requests. If you don't know the person or business in a request, don't click; check your Support Inbox instead.

Sources

• Facebook Help Center: Find your Support Inbox on Facebook
• Facebook Help Center: Check if an email is really from Facebook
• Facebook Help Center: Protect yourself from phishing on Facebook
• Facebook Help Center: Recover your Facebook account if you were hacked
• Facebook Help Center: How two-factor authentication works on Facebook
• Meta Business Help Center: About Meta Business Support Home
• FTC: How to recognize and avoid phishing scams
• FTC: How to recover your hacked email or social media account
• FTC: What to do if you were scammed