Facebook’s policies and actions have spawned an industry of scammers preying on individuals unable to get the attention of Facebook Support. Facebook, a division of Meta, is guilty of unilaterally disabling and deleting individual accounts without justification, without explanation, and without recourse. The only way to contact Facebook Support is by logging into Facebook, although you cannot log in once your account is disabled. A classic Catch-22.
Scammers are exploiting this situation by offering “account recovery” services for a fee while never delivering on those promises. If this isn’t enough of an “adding insult to injury” scenario for you, these scammers operate on yet another Meta platform – Instagram. All blatantly advertising their hacking and account recovery services. All doing so in full view of Meta, Facebook, and Instagram officials.
I, and a jury of my peers, have found Facebook guilty of enabling scammers. While Facebook denies those it harms the opportunity to appeal its unilateral (totalitarian) decisions and actions, I am granting Facebook a complete and open forum in which to appeal this verdict. The comment section of this post is now open.
The Recommendation Bots – If It Walks Like A Duck
I am a victim of Facebook’s scorched-earth approach to account disabling, which is outlined in Facebook Murdered and Erased Me. Unable to reach or receive a response from Facebook through its various support channels, I tried contacting them via X (formerly known as Twitter). My private message to them went unanswered. Next, I created a short tweet and tagged @facebook. My tweet received more than 140 replies and generated more than 150 retweets (I typically only get a couple of replies).
These replies and retweets came in waves. I received about 10-15 within a 10-minute span, each one recommending a specific account recovery service on Instagram. A half-hour later, another wave would arrive, this time all recommending a different account recovery service on Instagram. This would repeat every few hours with some waves arriving a day or two later. So far more than 15 different account recovery services have been recommended to me.
A sampling of these responses and recommendations showed that more than 90% were from X accounts established in the last 60 days, had no followers, and were following less than 10 people. Furthermore, a review of their profiles revealed that every one of their tweets was recommending an “account recovery” service.
In summary, nearly all replies came from accounts that looked like a bot, smelled like a bot, and walked like a bot.
The Account Recovery Scammers – If It Walks Like A Duck
I decided to pursue two of the more reputable appearing “account recovery” services. Here are brief summaries of how things transpired.
Account Recovery Scammer A
Scammer A advertises a 100% Moneyback Guarantee and a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee on his Instagram profile.
He runs a “decryption scan” and says my account is eligible for recovery. “The template costs $40 and it is a secured and guaranteed process. It’s a 3-hour max process and you’ll be good to go.” I agreed to this secured and guaranteed process and paid $40.
He claims to have successfully accessed the account but since two-factor authentication is turned on an $89 “bypass pack” is needed. With the $40 guarantee now blown, he “guarantees” the $89 payment will be the final one. I agreed and paid $89.
He claims the “bypass” was successful although he failed to provide any proof of its success. Says he now needs to log the hacker out and there is a “security software” that will automatically do that. This template comes in two forms, one for $159, and the other for $200. I declined and reminded him of his guarantee.
I tell him I am not sending any more money until the job is complete to my satisfaction. Once complete, I will gladly pay him an additional $150. He declines this offer because he believes I am trying to scam him.
His Instagram ads proclaim 100% satisfaction and money-back guarantees, so I decided this was the best path and asked for my money back. He would not make a refund saying he has to finish the process. I told him to finish the process then. He said I would need to pay him first.
I said if you have access to the account, then turn it over to me. I don’t need you to log the hacker out, I will assume that risk. He said okay, but there would be a $150 “service fee” for emailing me the activation link.
Three days later he said he would send the activation link in 12-24 hours. It never happened and I again requested a refund. This has now gone on for two weeks. The actual transcript is 27 pages long. If it smells like a scam…
Account Recovery Scammer B
Scammer B claims he can recover disabled accounts. He runs a diagnostic check against my Facebook account to see if it is possible to “get it recovered right away.” He claimed my “anti-spy-software was compromised and Facebook has been unable to verify my ownership of the account.” This resulted in the account being placed on “cyber-security.” He says he can get me back in, but my account needs “bypassing.” [Note: this is a different definition of bypassing from that of Scammer A]
He says my account will be active in 10-15 minutes but it is going to cost me for the “bypassing software.” The bypassing software comes in eight different price packages. [Note: why 8 levels? Is this a test of gullibility?] I opted for the $100 package and asked what guarantees come with that. His reply is, “We are professionals in our work.” I sent him $100.
He then sent a couple of generic screenshots showing % completed, but then informed me that “bypassing failed because the software is too small for my account.” There are three upgrades available for $145, $200, and $300, although the $145 is as good as the other two [Hmmm, what happened to the other 7?]. I asked what happens if it fails, and he replied that it cannot fail. He guarantees it will not fail. I sent him $145.
He claimed the bypassing process was completed successfully and he stated he now needed to purchase “activation software” to activate my account. “It is the last process in full account recovery.” The authentication server will supposedly generate a reset access link and send it to my email. He then asks if he should proceed and I say yes.
He then says the “activation software” is going to cost me. My reply was “This seems like such a scam. Why weren’t you upfront about all of these charges?” I reminded him that he said I would have to buy “bypassing” software and nothing else. He then points to an earlier conversation where he said, “After the account is bypassed then we buy activation software to finish the process.” I told him that “we” in that context meant him and his company, not “me” the customer.
He tells me the activation software is $200, at which point I say, “How about you refund my $245 and we call it quits?” He then replies, no I mean it is $97 for the activation software. I agree to pay him only after I have access to the account and verify my data is intact.
He says, “At our organization, we firmly adhere to a strict protocol to safeguard the interests of our clients.” I reminded him that I am the client and it is in my interest that he either finish the job or refund my $245.
He then sends a screenshot showing that “activation was successful. My guess is he forgot which phase of the scam he was in and accidentally sent it to me. However, instead of admitting it was sent in error or whatever, he decided to double down. He insists that this screenshot does not mean “activation was successful,” it means it is going to be “redirected to the activation process.” Somehow, he failed to realize his interpretation would still result in the account being activated.
I told him I was not going to give him any more money until the job was complete, and that he had 3 options:
- finish the job and I will pay you the final installment (70% already paid) when I verify my account and its data have been fully restored
- provide me with the data that I already paid you $245 for (without activating my account)
- refund my $245 since you failed to provide anything of use to me
He then repeated that “…after the bypassing we purchased activation software to activate and finalize your account.” To which I replied, “Great, the Activation software has been purchased. Now use it.”
He then said, “Your data has already been bypassed and downloaded already we just need the activation decoding software to activate and finalize your account.” I replied that all I needed was the data. I can do without the actual account.
This went on for two additional weeks. The actual transcript is 34 pages long, He has not fulfilled any of the options I provided. He still has my $245. He still doesn’t believe his own screenshots. All he wants is more money. If it smells like a scam…
Common Traits Among Scammers
Here are a few of the commonalities found among this type of scam:
- the price quoted to recover the account is not the total price
- payments are sent to different Venmo accounts on different days
- the scammers can’t actually do anything themselves, they have to “buy” software templates at each step
- they claim these purchased software templates can only be used one time
- there is always another step
- there is always an additional charge at each step
- each step is guaranteed to be the final step
- their definition of guarantee is much different than yours or mine
- they never deliver anything except generic screenshots
- there is nothing ethical about these business practices
- they operate openly and freely in the Metaverse
Instagram Is Complicit
Instagram is owned by Facebook (now called Meta). I’m surprised at the number of people I encounter who do not know that. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and more. The above chats took place on Instagram.
Facebook disables accounts and then removes all means of contacting support regarding those accounts. X, formerly known as Twitter, is one of the few social media platforms independent of Meta. Attempting to reach Facebook support from X, results in a bombardment of bots (Elon Musk has a long way to go in removing bots from his platform) recommending hackers (ie scammers) on Instagram.
Numerous hackers/scammers use Instagram as their hunting ground, and operate in full view of Instagram. While Facebook is busy disabling innocent accounts, sister company Instagram allows hackers to advertise spying, stealing, and compromising Instagram accounts. Unbelievable as that seems, here is such an ad on an Instagram profile (please refer to the image with Social Media Account Hacking” at the top).
Furthermore, many of these scammers claim they are “ethical hackers.” While that may seem like a conundrum, there are legitimate ethical hackers. However, these scammers are far from ethical. They are hiding behind this shield and giving actual ethical hackers a bad name.
Instagram, you are guilty of being complicit in these actions.