Avoiding Facebook, Instagram and Meta scams
Protect your Facebook and Instagram accounts from phishing scams that impersonate Meta. Learn how hackers target music marketers with fake emails and messages designed to steal login info and run fraudulent ads.
By Andrew Southworth
Hey music marketers!
Today we’re going to talk about avoiding Facebook, Instagram and Meta scams.
Over the past few years i’ve known a handful of people that have had their Facebook or Instagram account, and/or their ad account hacked.
This can be pretty devastating because it could result in lost accounts, restricted ad accounts or even wasted money. So today I want to cover some common scams so you can avoid them.
It isn’t a sexy topic, but I feel obligated to at least talk about this at least once on this newsletter.
How hackers try to steal your account
There are two main ways i’ve seen for hackers to try and steal your account. Both are what as known as ‘phishing’ attacks.
They send you a email that looks like it’s from Meta or Facebook, but it’s really from a hacker.
They send you a Facebook message on FB Messenger that looks like its from Meta or Facebook, but it’s really from a hacker.
In both cases they try to get you to go to a fake link that looks like the real website but it’s actually designed to steal your login information.
Setting up two factor authentication is one great way to help protect your account. But it seems like hackers have a way around this too, so be very careful what links you click on.
Often these emails are claiming things like ‘your ad account is at risk of being shut down’, or ‘you have 24 hours to dispute this case before we delete your account’ etc. They’re trying to make you panic, so in the heat of the moment you don’t double check to see if the message is real.
Often the biggest nightmare in this whole process is your inability to contact anyone at Meta to help. They just don’t have any customer service, and what they do have you must be logged in to access. Fortunately every person I know who’s been hacked has gotten their stuff back and got all money refunded, but in some cases it took months.
Why do people try to steal your account
One reason is they want your ad account, or more accurately your credit card. In some cases of account theft we’ve seen the hacker run thousands of dollars in ad spend to scam ads in a matter of just a couple days.
Typically your credit card company will refund you for this even if you can’t get in. So in most cases you won’t lose any money, but your ad account could get shut down. These hackers aren’t typically running legitimate businesses in their ads. This could result in lost pixels, downtime in promoting songs, restricted pages and more.
In other cases the hacker wants your actual accounts. Sometimes this is just to scam more people. You know those accounts sending FB messages with fake links? Those are the previous victims.
I’ve also seen them just upload content and market bitcoin scams to your existing audience. This can result in account restrictions and brand damage.
My biggest tips to you are:
Turn on 2FA in your accounts.
Be very careful about which links you click in emails, always double check the sender. Never click links from senders you don’t trust and even if you do trust them always look at link URL’s before you click them.
Meta rarely ever sends you a Facebook message unless you request one. If they do, it won’t be a sketchy looking link they’re asking you to click on. Be very suspicious of all messages you receive, and don’t click links in messenger from people you don’t know.
New Content
In this video I talk to Forest Slater about how he grew from zero to 50,000 monthly listeners on Spotify with a modest ad budget.
Looking for more Instagram followers for your music? In this video I show how to run Facebook ads (Meta ads) to grow your Instagram followers.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:
My courses. Spotify Growth Machine teaches you how to use Facebook ads to promote your music on Spotify. YouTube Growth Machine teaches you how to grow a YouTube channel organically and how to use YouTube ads. Fan Growth Machine teaches you how to build a website, online store and grow your email list.
My ad agency. Forbid Media specializes in running Facebook conversion ads to promote your music on Spotify.
Website / Store / Funnels. MusicFunnels is the best all-in-one platform for music artists to make a website, online store, sales funnels and build their mailing list.
1-on-1 consulting. You can book 1-hour calls with myself or Alex Bochel here.
My Links:
🌍 MusicFunnels - Best website / store / funnels for music artists (get your 14-day FREE trial!)
💿 Partnered Projects - the best Spotify playlist service
🧑💻 Consultations
🎬 Get 15% off Melodist music distribution with code ANDREW15 here
Discount / Affiliate Links:
►► FeatureFM - use code ASOUTH30 for 30% off annual plans!
If you’d rather just purchase the e-book, or physical book or audiobook you can do so here.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Music Marketing Monday! Please give your feedback using the poll below.
In case you’re curious what platform i’m using to run this newsletter, it’s called beehiiv.
Turn Meta ads into real streaming growth
Learn the campaign structure Andrew uses to promote songs without guessing at every step.