February 4, 2017
Top Story: Facebook customer service phone number? It's a scam
By Mark Jones, Komando.com
Top Story: Facebook customer service phone number? It's a scam | Komando.com
More than likely, you are one of the billions of active Facebook users. That's right, billions! It's estimated that there are nearly 2 billion active monthly users worldwide.
With that many people participating on the social media site, problems are bound to arise. If something did go wrong, how would you contact Facebook? You really need to be careful in trying to make contact, it could result in a nasty scam.
Several people recently filed reports with police about being scammed while trying to contact Facebook. NPR decided to look into what's going on.
How this Facebook customer service scam works
Researchers with NPR realized the most common way to find a contact number is to do an online search. When they did a Google search for "Facebook customer service," the number 844-735-4595 was the number one result. (This search result has since been removed from Google).
Image: Google search results for Facebook Customer Service
Note: If you are reading this article using the Komando.com App, click here to see the image
Warning! Do NOT call this number. It is a scam.
NPR had a company that specializes in phone fraud call the number. The person who answered the call claimed to be a Facebook representative but was actually a fraud.
Here's how the call went:
The fraudster answered the phone by saying, "Thanks for calling Facebook." The researcher told the fake rep that he was locked out of his Facebook account and needed help getting back in.
The scammer said for the account to be unlocked, the researcher needed to go to either Target or Walmart and buy an iTunes card. Once he purchased the iTunes card, he was to call back and give the fraudster the 16-digit security code located on the back of the card. He would then be given the password to unlock the Facebook account.
This is basically an elaborate iTunes card scam, which is common. The Federal Trade Commission warned people in 2016 that scammers are frequently ripping people off through these iTunes gift card hoaxes.
How to contact Facebook
The phone number that NPR found on Google also turned up in other places over the past year. It was even circulating on Facebook itself, on certain pages where people ask for help.
What you really need to know is that there is NO phone number to contact Facebook. A member of the company's Help Team made that announcement on one of the pages that a user was asking for help.
So if you do an online search for Facebook customer service, don't call any number that shows up in the results. The only way you can actually contact Facebook is through its help center.
Click here if you need to contact Facebook.
Now that you know there isn't an official Facebook phone number, don't make the mistake of calling a fake number found online. It can only lead to trouble.
Top Story: Facebook customer service phone number? It's a scam
By Mark Jones, Komando.com
Top Story: Facebook customer service phone number? It's a scam | Komando.com
More than likely, you are one of the billions of active Facebook users. That's right, billions! It's estimated that there are nearly 2 billion active monthly users worldwide.
With that many people participating on the social media site, problems are bound to arise. If something did go wrong, how would you contact Facebook? You really need to be careful in trying to make contact, it could result in a nasty scam.
Several people recently filed reports with police about being scammed while trying to contact Facebook. NPR decided to look into what's going on.
How this Facebook customer service scam works
Researchers with NPR realized the most common way to find a contact number is to do an online search. When they did a Google search for "Facebook customer service," the number 844-735-4595 was the number one result. (This search result has since been removed from Google).
Image: Google search results for Facebook Customer Service
Note: If you are reading this article using the Komando.com App, click here to see the image
Warning! Do NOT call this number. It is a scam.
NPR had a company that specializes in phone fraud call the number. The person who answered the call claimed to be a Facebook representative but was actually a fraud.
Here's how the call went:
The fraudster answered the phone by saying, "Thanks for calling Facebook." The researcher told the fake rep that he was locked out of his Facebook account and needed help getting back in.
The scammer said for the account to be unlocked, the researcher needed to go to either Target or Walmart and buy an iTunes card. Once he purchased the iTunes card, he was to call back and give the fraudster the 16-digit security code located on the back of the card. He would then be given the password to unlock the Facebook account.
This is basically an elaborate iTunes card scam, which is common. The Federal Trade Commission warned people in 2016 that scammers are frequently ripping people off through these iTunes gift card hoaxes.
How to contact Facebook
The phone number that NPR found on Google also turned up in other places over the past year. It was even circulating on Facebook itself, on certain pages where people ask for help.
What you really need to know is that there is NO phone number to contact Facebook. A member of the company's Help Team made that announcement on one of the pages that a user was asking for help.
So if you do an online search for Facebook customer service, don't call any number that shows up in the results. The only way you can actually contact Facebook is through its help center.
Click here if you need to contact Facebook.
Now that you know there isn't an official Facebook phone number, don't make the mistake of calling a fake number found online. It can only lead to trouble.