AhnLab Warns of Phishing Emails Targeting Facebook Accounts Impersonating Meta

Phishing email impersonating Meta targeting corporate Facebook accounts. (Photo by AhnLab)

AhnLab recently discovered a phishing email attempting to hijack corporate Facebook accounts by impersonating Meta, the operator of Facebook, and on the 17th urged corporate social media managers to be cautious.

The attacker disguised the sender name as ‘Meta Policy’ and distributed a phishing email titled ‘Important Notice: Your Business Account Has Been Restricted Due To Violations Of Intellectual Property.’ However, a close look at the email address reveals that it is a private email address, not an official Meta email.

The email body included Meta’s official logo and stated that ‘some pages of the user’s business account were blocked due to detected potential intellectual property infringement,’ and urged recipients to click the button below (REQUEST REVIEW) to file an objection if they believe the account suspension is an error. The button contained a URL leading to a phishing website. In particular, the email added messages to alarm users, such as ‘Respond within 24 hours to prevent permanent suspension or deletion of your business account’ and ‘Do not hesitate to contact the support team for inquiries,’ pressuring users to click the malicious URL.

If a user is deceived and clicks the ‘REQUEST REVIEW’ button at the bottom of the email, they are redirected to a phishing site that presumably prompts them to enter information such as their Facebook account name, account manager’s name, and email. If the attacker steals this account information, they can spread ransomware or other malware from the victim company’s Facebook account or impersonate company personnel to launch further attacks, so users must exercise extreme caution.

Currently, V3 detects and blocks the execution of malicious URLs distributed through this email.

To prevent damage, users should ▲verify the sender and avoid opening attachments or clicking URLs in suspicious emails ▲use different accounts for each site and change passwords regularly ▲keep antivirus programs like V3 updated to the latest version and enable phishing site blocking features ▲maintain the latest versions of all used software (OS/internet browsers/office software, etc.) and apply security patches, following basic security guidelines.

Song Taehyun, a senior analyst at AhnLab, emphasized, “If a company’s social media account falls into the hands of attackers, they can easily spread malware or fake news, causing significant damage. Since there may be attack attempts impersonating social media platforms other than Facebook, corporate social media managers should adhere to basic security practices such as not opening attachments or clicking URLs in suspicious emails.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.