Fake Meta “your Page will be deleted” messages: how to spot the scam and what to do if you entered your password

What the scam looks like

The message is dressed up as an official notice from Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. The wording changes, the idea doesn't: your account or Page is at risk, and the only way to save it is through a link. Common versions:

• “Community Standards violation”: your Page or a post broke the rules and your account will be “permanently disabled”.
• “Copyright infringement”: someone has complained about your content and you need to file an “appeal” or “counter-notice”.
• “Page verification” or a blue badge: verify your account or lose your Page.

These arrive by email or as a message on Messenger or Instagram, often from a profile called “Meta Support”, “Page Support” or similar, with the Meta logo as its picture. The link leads to a copy of the Facebook login page or an “appeal form” that ends up asking for your password and verification code.

Why bother? A hijacked profile with a business Page is worth money. Scammers can run ads on a saved card, push more scams to your followers and friends, or sell the Page. Czech police have described offenders trying to move money out of accounts linked to ad payments and then getting the account banned to cover their tracks.

How to spot a fake

Any one of these is enough:

• It threatens to ban or delete your account. Meta's Help Center specifically lists messages that threaten to ban or delete your account as suspicious.
• It asks for your password, a code or card details. Facebook says it never asks for your password by email and never sends passwords as attachments. A verification code is for you alone.
• The link doesn't go to facebook.com. Fakes use words like “meta-support”, “appeal” or “page-review” in the address, or point to a third-party form builder. What counts is the domain, not the logo or the link text.
• A “Meta” profile messages you on Messenger. Warnings about rule breaches appear in your account, not as a chat message from a profile with a logo.
• Urgency. “Within 24 hours”, “final warning”, “permanently”. The pressure is there to stop you checking.

How to check safely

1. Don't click the link and don't reply.
2. Open Facebook yourself, in the app or by typing facebook.com into your browser. If there's a real problem with your Page, you'll see a notice when you log in.
3. Business Pages and ad accounts: check Meta Business Support Home, where Meta says businesses can see their account status.
4. Check the email under Recent emails. On a computer: profile picture, Settings & privacy, Settings, Accounts Center, Password and security, Recent emails, or go straight to facebook.com/recent_emails/security. The Security tab shows security emails from the past year; the other tab shows other emails from the last two days. If it isn't listed, Facebook didn't send it.
5. Nothing there? It was a scam. Forward the email to phish@fb.com, report the message or profile on Messenger and delete it.

Already entered your password or a code?

1. Change your password now. Make it strong and unique to Facebook. If your email used the same password, change that first, because email can be used to reset Facebook. A password manager helps.
2. Check 2-step verification. Turn it on, or make sure the scammer hasn't added their own phone or authenticator app. Never read codes out to anyone. Guide: 2-step verification.
3. Log out unfamiliar devices. In Accounts Center, under Password and security, check where you're logged in and remove anything you don't recognise. Check the email address and phone number on the account too.
4. Review Pages and ads. Check who manages your Pages and business portfolio and remove anyone you don't know. In ad payment settings, look for campaigns and charges you didn't set up. If a card saved for ads could have been misused, call your bank.
5. Locked out? Start recovery at facebook.com/hacked, ideally from a device you've logged in from before. If the scammer changed your email, Facebook usually sends a message to the old address with a link to undo the change. More detail: Someone hacked my account.
6. Warn your contacts and followers. A hijacked account often sends out similar messages or asks friends for money.

Where to report it

• Meta: forward phishing emails to phish@fb.com and report messages, profiles or posts with the Report option on Facebook or Instagram.
• Lost money or someone is misusing your account: contact your bank and report it to the police or your national fraud reporting service (in the UK, Report Fraud; in the US, the FBI's IC3). Keep the message, the address of the fake page and screenshots.

Staying safe next time

• Deal with rule-breach notices only after logging in to Facebook or Meta Business Support Home, never through a link.
• Use 2-step verification on your profile and business portfolio, ideally with an authenticator app.
• Only give Page access to people who need it, and review the list regularly.
• Use a different password for Facebook and for your email than anywhere else. Czech police have described cases where offenders first cracked a weak email password and used it to take over a social media account.

Other threat-plus-link scams work the same way, such as “mailbox full” emails. If you've entered any details on a scam site, see I entered my details on a scam website.