Several verified Facebook pages were hacked and used to distribute malware through ads that were approved and purchased on the social media platform recently. The hackers even went as far as to impersonate Facebook itself and create official-sounding pages like 'Meta Ads' and 'Meta Ads Manager' to lure users into clicking suspicious download links.
Social media consultant Matt Navarra was one of the first to spot these fake ads and took to Twitter to raise the alarm. One such fake ad, which Navarra shared, was a screenshot of a Meta ad that was actually an impersonation. Another verified Facebook account was hacked and used to impersonate 'Google AI', pointing Facebook users toward fake links for Bard, Google's AI chatbot.
According to TechCrunch, the hacked account previously belonged to Indian singer and actress Miss Pooja and had over 7 million followers. However, the account name was changed on April 29, and it started sharing suspicious links with its followers.
A Meta spokesperson stated that the company invests significant resources into detecting and preventing scams and hacks, but scammers are always trying to find ways to get around their security measures. The spokesperson also added that while many of the improvements they've made are not visible, they minimise the chances of people having issues in the first place.
In addition to this, last week, Meta discovered that malware creators were taking advantage of the public's interest in ChatGPT, using it to entice users into downloading harmful applications and browser extensions. The company compared this tactic to cryptocurrency scams, as both tactics exploit people's curiosity and trust to gain access to sensitive information.
Meta found around 10 malware families posing as ChatGPT and similar tools to compromise accounts across the internet. In its security report, the company stated that it had investigated and taken action against these malware strains over the past few months.
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