Category: Social Media (Page 1 of 6)

Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles

I am frequently asked on Facebook, “How can you tell?“, when I call out a bogus poster. And there’s no short answer. There are many, many different tells. I’ll try to compile them all here, as a “Guide to Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles.”

Major Giveaways

Does their Facebook URL match their Display Name? A lot of sock puppet accounts are set up with the user’s true name, and they later change the Display Name to something American-sounding. But they forget to go back and change the end of their Facebook URL!

Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles
Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles

They “Like” their own posts and photos. I’m not 100% sure why they do this. Maybe they hope it boosts their credibility? But regular folks on Facebook usually do not Like their own stuff.

Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles

If the profile shows where the person works, be leery of generic employment words. If you see “Works at Clinic Office” or “Self Employed”, that’s a red flag. It’s more common for even a self-employed person to give a specific name for their company!

Does the profile say that it is “locked”? That’s a tell-tale sign that the account was created in another country. Facebook does not allowlocked profiles” in the USA. So, if a Facebook user is claiming to be from somewhere in the 50 states, but their profile shows that it is locked, we have found a lie!

Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles

Also, I often peruse the different people on a suspicious account’s Friend List. Or I consider the other people that are Liking their photos and posts. If a Facebook account claims to be from Wisconsin, but most of their Friends hail from Pakistan, that gives me pause, leads me to dig further…

More Advanced Techniques

Sometimes, a fake Facebook profile is really buttoned up. They’ve hidden their Friends List and all other personal information. Their photos are unremarkable. But click through each part of their profile, to see if anything is shown. Even if they’ve just left one review with their account, it could be a clue:

Looking over that “Vents Cleaning” page, I get the impression that it’s just another scam page for a service referral scheme. These fake accounts often comment and place reviews on each others pages, again, to boost their legitimacy and credibility.

Many bogus Facebook profiles still post a lot of normal looking things on their feeds, like inspirational quotes and cat pictures. It helps them fit in and look normal. But if you scroll through an account and see a lot of Shared posts, where the content is missing, that’s another red flag. That’s a sign that they’ve been promoting a lot of content that Facebook has later nixed, due to it violating their TOS.

Lastly, you should know that the Facebook Search field is your friend. When you see a suspicious name or post, copy that name and/or the first sentence or two of what they typed. Paste it into the search field and see what posts turn up. If you’ve found a scammer, then their name or post is going to show in many other places on Facebook.

Reporting Fake Profiles

Now that you’re feeling more capable of spotting fake Facebook profiles, you should be ready to report any you encounter.

  • Click on the account’s name to visit their profile page.
  • Below the masthead photo, click on the three-dots button to the right.
  • Click Report Profile
  • Click Something about this profile
  • Click Scam, fraud or impersonation
  • Click Impersonation
  • Click Fake profile
  • Click Submit
  • Optional: Click Next and Done

For some profiles (labeled Digital Creators), the steps are a little different:

  • Click on the account’s name to visit their profile page.
  • Below the masthead photo, click on the three-dots button to the right.
  • Click Report Profile
  • Click Fake Profile
  • Click They’re not a real person
  • Click Submit
  • Optional: Click Next and Done

After you report a profile, you’ll get a boilerplate message like this:

And later on, you might receive another message like this:

And I can wrap up this post with surprisingly good news. Facebook is now acting on some of these types of reports. I don’t know what or when they changed, but today, I am noticing that many of the accounts I report are being removed and deleted, often within an hour!

Meta Legal Phishing

Many people are getting a scary type of message right now. It claims to be a legal notice about Walt Disney Studios and copyright infringement. While the email is realistic and scary-looking, I am sure it is a fake. If you receive this Meta Legal Phishing in your inbox, do not cooperate with it!

The Phishing Message

Here is Exhibit A for you to look out for:

Meta Legal Phishing

As phishing scams go, this one is pretty sharp. Only the sender email address is a giveaway, and I realize that some email apps hide that. Many recipients may have little indication, at the start, that this is a fake. The spelling is decent. The logos and signature are accurate. If you hover over the CONTACT US button, the URL preview shows a real Facebook.com address!

Deeper into the Scam

Meta Legal Phishing

The reason that the contact-button shows a real Facebook URL is because it leads to a specific Facebook profile. Scammers have created a new profile page, named it Legal Department, and linked directly to their Messenger Chat function. Anyone who clicks the button will begin a Facebook chat with the scammers. And they are ready to chat with you!

Meta Legal Phishing

Well, “chat” is not the right word. They have various auto-replies set up, and you will get messages that urge you to click other links and “appeal” the scary legal action against you.

I tried chatting with these criminals. Posing as a remorseful and naive Facebook user, I claimed that I regretted my actions and wanted to settle the fine ASAP. Even when I offered to pay whatever it was that I owed, they kept repeating that I was to click their links and buttons to appeal.

If they don’t want money, then what is the goal here? They aim to steal your Facebook account.

Phishing for Your Password

Anyone tricked into clicking the button to Appeal is transported off of Facebook to a dangerous website. At this point, some browsers will pop-up phishing alerts. Others will simply prevent you from loading the page. But if the next page loads, it shows a clever fake that may make you think you are still on a legit site:

After this they ask for your email and other info:

And finally they demand:

Anyone who types info into this window is delivering their Facebook password to cybercrooks. After this happens, they will:

  • Log into the Facebook account, using the provided email and password
  • Change the account password, as well as the primary email and recovery methods
  • Start doing crimes, using the victim’s identity

Facebook offers these steps to follow, if an account has been hacked and stolen. But I must warn: These steps often don’t work, if the criminal inside the account is thorough. Phishing victims often lose their Facebook accounts for good to this sort of scheme.

Dos & Don’ts

Don’t believe in thse emails! Facebook is not going to harass or threaten you with legal action because of Disney IP violations. If anything, they would just remove your post. Facebook/Meta does not have enough staff to police itself or help people recover their lost accounts, so they certainly don’t have the manpower to chase down small infringement matters.

Don’t waste your time contacting the scammers, even to tell them what-for. It’s just not worth it. And remember: Facebook is powered on engagement. That means they may recommend more of the things that you click and comment on. Do you really want Facebook steering you towards other suspicious pages and posts?

Do report this sort of scam, if you are comfortable doing so. You may mark the email as Spam/Junk Mail, if your mail provider allows for that. If a scammer has used FB Messenger to chat you, look to the right side for an option to Report the conversation (this may be hidden under Privacy and Support). If you have visited a scammer’s FB Page, the entire profile can be reported as well, using the 3 dots button under the masthead photo.


Unfortunately, Meta Support is now largely run by AI, so your reports of these scammers may be disregarded. But we should still report these scammers. The hope is that if enough reports come in, Meta will pay better attention and do their job to protect us.

Missing Person Posts on Facebook

Posting about a missing person on Facebook just makes sense. Meta’s social media platform has incredible reach and spreads info extremely fast. But when you see such a post in your feed, don your critical thinking-cap before reacting. There are a few kinds of Missing Person Posts on Facebook. And each one merits a different response.

Legitimate Missing Person Posts

A real and trustworthy Missing Person Post will clearly display:

  • The missing person’s full name, age, height, weight and last known attire
  • A police department’s name, location and phone number, to which you would report any sighting or critical info
  • Links to an Amber Alert or other missing-persons website

Check out this Virginia State Police page for active missing person alerts. Reviewing these will make you familiar with the type of alerts you may trust. If you see these posts on social media, you should feel safe in sharing them and interacting with them.

Suspicious Missing Person Posts

On other occasions, you may see a social media post that asks for help in finding someone… but it isn’t quite as buttoned-up. The post will truly be from a local person, asking for help in locating another local, but:

  • No police department or authorities are mentioned
  • They request you call or text a personal cell number
  • The post asks for private messages only

This could be a legitimate plea for help, but without police involvement, we cannot be certain. Getting involved in this sort of alert could have unknown consequences. Play it safe and do not get involved, unless you know the poster and situation personally. A missing person alert that doesn’t pass the sniff-test could actually be:

  • A stalker trying to track down a victim
  • A parent seeking to violate a custody order
  • An abuser searching for someone who’s fled their home

While rare, you don’t want to accidentally help with those situations. Think twice before sharing or spreading the post, as well.

Scammy Missing Person Posts

Missing Person Posts on Facebook

And then there are the completely fake missing person alerts. They’re all over Facebook, especially in Facebook Groups. I’ve mentioned these before, but they range from missing kids to adults & old folks and even pets.

These posts will resemble the suspicious posts described above, but there are further tells that are hallmarks of a scam:

  • Duplicated photos are shown
  • The poster has just recently joined the group
  • The poster Likes their own post
  • Comments are disabled
  • There is no contact info, to the police or any individual
  • The town name has been hashtagged (marked with a #)
  • The only urgent request is that you Share the post

This type of post is 100% fiction, and there is no missing child/adult/pet. The photo has been swiped from somewhere else on the internet, and is being used to catch your eye and tug on your heartstrings. Once this scam post has garnered a lot of Shares all across Facebook, the original poster will Edit the original post to something more dangerous. And that Edit will echo down through all of the Shares and spread to thousands or millions of Facebook users. For more details, check out The Facebook Edited-Post Scam.

If you see this type of post, do not Like it or Share it. Use the 3-dots button in the corner of the post to report it, to Facebook and to the “group admins”.

Facebook’s Malvertising Problem

A couple of weeks ago, I posted briefly on my Facebook page about a rash of dangerous posts. Many people were clicking on Facebook content and then running afoul of scammy popups. This sort of thing is very common around the internet. But since that day, I feel like there is quite an increase in this threat, and all originating with Facebook. We need to talk about Facebook’s malvertising problem.

Malvertising is (yet another) tech portmanteau, blending together the words “malware” and “advertising”. Malvertising is when online ads and ad-networks are used and abused to infect your computers and bring tech-harm into your life. Wherever advertising occurs on the web, malvertising is possible. And right now, Facebook is where a lot of it is cropping up.

Facebook's Malvertising Problem

And Meta’s problem seems to be getting worse, not better. It started with posts about deceased celebrities and other tragic (fake) news. And right now, it’s ramping up into offers for free software and games. And the threat is changing, from fake virus alert messages to real computer infections. Sadly, Facebook can’t seem to get a tourniquet on things.

What to Know and Do

While malvertising happens on many websites, including LinkedIn and YouTube, most of the reports coming to my door right now come from Sponsored Posts on Facebook. So while my general advice is to run an ad-blocker for extra protection, my specific advice here is: Do not trust or click on any Sponsored Post you see on Facebook.

This is especially true of anything that looks salacious, too good to be true, or alarming. Tempting sponsored posts on Facebook can be traps and might lead to something entirely different. Even benign-looking sponsored posts can be dangerous. Reason being: bad actors are compromising and stealing Facebook accounts, and misusing them to spread viral content.

It gets even trickier, because Facebook is putting posts in your feed that may or may not say “Sponsored Post” in the corner. Some may be labelled “Suggested For You”. A few may simply want you to “Follow” them. And others may have no special marker or call-out. I have to prescribe a healthy amount of dubiousness for any unexpected or unfamiliar posts you encounter on Facebook!

Besides this BOLO, I can also recommend:

  • Run an ad blocker or a browser with built-in ad-blocking. Even the FBI recommends using an ad blocker!
  • Use the 3-dots button next to any Facebook to Hide or Block content that you don’t care for
  • Consider using the F.B. Purity extension
  • Do not call phone numbers on unexpected pop-ups. Also, think twice before giving out your email or phone number to anyone asking for it through Facebook
  • Use Facebook less!

Spotting a Fake Company on Facebook

Someone recently asked about a business page on Facebook: “Hey, is this company legitimate? Am I going to be scammed by them?” I took a quick look and quickly saw the danger. Please check out the details below to become better at spotting a fake company on Facebook.

The Basics

The page that I was reviewing today was Asphalt Specialist & Driveway Maintenance. In case Facebook removes that page, I’ll also link to an archived copy of that page, for anyone to review.

On the surface, this looks like a perfectly ordinary business profile. I see a local phone number and address, plenty of good reviews, and solid English used on the posts and descriptions. No obvious red flags for the casual observer!

Digging In

On this profile, I started by clicking About and then Page Transparency. This asphalt company showed:

Spotting a Fake Company on Facebook

From this, we see that the page was created only 5 months ago, and is managed by people in the US… and Spain? A rural West Virginia paving company with a connection to someone across the ocean?

Checking the Basic Contact Info

Next, I copied the phone number and threw it into a Google search, and also into DuckDuckGo. And these searches immediately connect with paving and sealcoating services. But the results link to companies with different names. And different locations. Nothing matches up with the contact info on the Facebook profile.

So I regarded the address. Copied & pasted it into Google Maps, Bing Maps and Mapquest (yes, they’re still around!). Each mapping service quickly put a pin down and offered directions to that location. But none of them mentioned a business at that pin. And something’s seemed off, satellite imagery didn’t show buildings right at the pin drop.

So I got a bit analysis-retentive. I learned that the address was in Berkeley County, WV. Most counties have a handy GIS/mapping website for their properties, and Berkeley County’s was easy to find. It wasn’t the easiest to use, but I persevered and found that the address shown on Facebook doesn’t exist.

Spotting a Fake Company on Facebook
Where’s 198 Hatchery?

Digging Deeper

I returned to the Facebook profile to admire their posts and photos. The logo looked like an AI creation, but I see that happening more and more with real businesses, so I moved on. Browsing through the photos, I picked a fairly unique one, showing a man finishing a driveway job. I right-clicked that photo and chose “Search Image with Google”.

Google quickly popped out a side panel, showing similar photos and one exact match. The exact match was on a different paving company’s page. A company in Michigan.

I repeated this with a different photo on their Facebook profile. And that photo tracked back to a Craigslist post:

It was starting to look like their images were all copied from other websites. A business that’s copying images, as well as contact info? Definitely shady, enough for me to be sure about this outfit and turn them in to Facebook. But I found one more bit of copy-fraud:

The Glowing Reviews

This profile showed a high rating, from the get-go: 4.9 Stars, from 57 reviews! Pretty good for a page that’s not only a year old. And most of the reviews are wordy and very detailed and using proper English. But the devil is in the details.

Scrolling through these reviews, I soon noticed repetition. Different people had posted the exact same verbiage as each other. Next, I clicked through to look at these people posting the reviews. Most of them seemed off. They appeared to be posting various glowing reviews for a wide variety of services. I started to wonder if they were sock puppet accounts. And that perhaps all of the companies they were reviewing were bogus, like our Asphalt fakers.

By the way, this fake review technique has a name: Astroturfing. It’s sort of the opposite of review bombing.

Case Closed

I’m convinced that this Asphalt profile smells of fraud, so I did report it to Facebook. If somehow this is a real business, then they’ve been dealing with fraudsters to get reviews and other people’s photos on their profile. Please be ready to report anything shady to Facebook… even though it doesn’t do much.

Facebook is like the wild wild west. There’s a pretense of law & order, but it’s just too big to police. Or perhaps they don’t care to. Keep in mind that this scammy page is actually paying Meta to run their ads, while you are using Facebook for free. In other words:

Even More Facebook Scams

The hits just keep coming. I’ve got even more Facebook scams to describe, so that you’ll be able to recognize and dodge these if you meet with them:

Concert Tickets for Sale

This is as simple as they come: Someone will ask for a Venmo or CashApp payment for some concert tickets, and then ghost you as soon as they receive the cash.

And once they’ve stolen your money, they will also Block you. This prevents you from reporting them to Facebook.

Garage Door Repair

Now we can add “garage door repair” to the list of service scams on the internet.

Working on garage doors is not for the faint of heart and is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. I think it important that you be sure to have a properly licensed and insured person performing this service for you.

Missing Child Notice

I’ve blogged before about missing child alerts on social media, but this adds a new angle to that. These posts are fakes. These children are not missing. They’re not even located in the named town or region.

I’m fairly certain that these posts will later be changed into something shady, à la The Facebook Edited-Post Scam.

Precious Things Found

From missing people to found items, these scammy notices work the same way. If they can just get their post to be shared far and wide, they’ll later change it to something scammy.

Used Car for Sale

Many people sell their cars on Facebook, so this scam is hard to spot until you start dealing with the poster.

But I know this is a scam, because this person’s account was stolen from them. Once a scammer entered this user account, they changed the password and all other security info. And Facebook did not help the rightful owner of the account. The scammers are still in there as of today, posting about this car on all of the groups that they can.

For those who reach out about this car, they’ll be asked to make a small payment to “hold” the car for them. Or they may be offered a “too-good-to-be-true” price to get the car sold quickly and delivered to you. In any case, it’s just another way to get your cash before they block you.

Red Flags for These Scams

  • The poster asks you for payment or a holding fee before you have seen the product or received any proof of the item’s existence.
  • No company name is given, no local phone number or website is shown for offered services.
  • Real missing-persons notices would include the name and phone number of the relevant police station.
  • Scammers tend to Like their own posts and often Turn Off Commenting.

Logo Design Scams on Facebook

Logo Design scams on Facebook are the latest to appear on group pages. These scams are brought to you by the same people who offer duct cleaning, mobile car detailing and more. Here are the deets:

What This Scam Looks Like

Again, this scam usually appears inside of Facebook Groups. The wording may vary, and can actually be a bit engaging:

This time around, the scammers are onto something. The forthright statements and proud attitude is a good hook, and holds the readers’ attention. I see a lot of these posts, full of comments from people who want to contribute their own opinions and attitudes on the subject. And their conversation makes the posts more credible!

But it’s still a scheme, and I recommend you shy away from these offers.

How This Is a Scam

Once again, I have to remind everyone that appearances are often not what they seem on the internet. The people posting these offers use Western names and American-looking photos. They look like they could be your neighbors, but they aren’t. When I chat with these folks, I send them links to click on. And when they do, I get to see their location in the world:

Almost all of these service-type scams are posted by people in Pakistan. I have nothing against the people of Pakistan. But I do have misgivings about dealing with a Pakistani who uses a sock puppet account on Facebook to present themselves as an American.

Incidentally, I am very forthright with these people, as I chat them up. I ask them plainly about their location in Pakistan. They either use coarse language at me, or block me. I do not ever get a civil response from them.

How These Scams Play Out

I would have to give these scammers some money to be sure of how the scam finishes. I’m not going to do that. So, here are my educated guesses on what happens to people who fall for these schemes:

  • The scammer plays you long enough to get an initial payment, and then blocks you.
  • The person actually gets you some logos and design options. But they are quickly whipped up, using free sites and AI tools, and certainly not worth $200.
  • They offer to help with your website design, which will give them access to your professional email and domain. Your passwords could be sold to a higher-level scammer who can abuse your email address and identity.

If you have dealt with these scammers, please share your story with me. I would love to update this post with more details!

However these ploys go down, you need to know that you will have no recourse. Whether you lose time, money or your entire website, these people are in another country, where our police cannot address them. These scammers will quickly block you on Facebook, and Meta will not assist you, even if you report the matter to them.

What You Can Do

It can be tricky to recognize these scams. Their verbiage gets better every year. But one useful trick is simply to search Facebook for the scam. Specifically, click and highlight one or two sentences in a suspicious post. Copy that text and paste it into the search field at the top of Facebook. You will know you have found a scam, if your search turns up similar posts from all over the country:

logo design scams on facebook

Next, report the scam posts. But understand that when you report things, you have a choice. You can report them to Facebook, but little to nothing will occur. Or, you can report them to the Group’s Admins. That is much more likely to help. The very real and local people that take care of that group will see your report and probably take action against the poster.

It’s quick and easy to report a post to the group’s admin!

Lastly, I do not recommend that you criticize or attack these scammers on their posts. They will simply block you. Once you have been blocked by them, you will be unable to see their posts or report anything that they do.

2024 Facebook Outage

Update: Starting at around 12PM EST, many users are able to login and use Meta/Facebook products again. Here’s hoping the 2024 Facebook Outage is over. Whew, that wasn’t as bad as the 2021 Outage!


If you cannot access Facebook right now, it’s not you. It’s Facebook. Facebook is down, possibly for many people. I think this is big enough we’ll be referring to it as the 2024 Facebook Outage.

The outage began around 10AM EST on March 5, 2024. Users everywhere have been logged out of the Facebook website, the mobile app, Messenger and possibly more. Ah, now I see that Instagram is also down. I’m even having trouble loading the Meta Status page!

For now, it might be best if you sit tight, retry Facebook every now and then, and watch the news for more details as to when this outage has passed.

Outage websites, like DownDetector and DownForeveryoneOrJustMe, might show useful trends and comments about this outage. And a Wikipedia page for this event has already started to form.

So far, the only thing that Meta has said is “a technical issue” caused the difficulty. While more details would be appreciated, this might be the most explanation we’re going to get.

2024 facebook outage

The Girl Scout Cookie Scam

There’s always another scam just around the corner. And with these jokers in Scamdinavia, nothing is sacred. Please watch out for the Girl Scout Cookie Scam, circulating on Facebook and possibly other social media.

The Scam

You might already know this scam, but it’s still worth broadcasting. Because the Girl Scout brand is so endearing and trustworthy, some people are getting fooled by this nonsense. Check out these examples of the scam I’ve collected from Facebook:

Let me be clear: These posts are not legitimate, not endorsed by The Girl Scouts of America and not created by anyone in this country. People in Kenya or Pakistan have created sock puppet accounts on Facebook, stolen a bunch of photos with kids and cookies in them, and are simply posing and fishing for quick money.

Anyone who messages these schemers will be asked to pay for their cookies using Paypay, Venmo, CashApp, etc.. The poster collects the money and pretends to take down the address, and asks the victim to wait a couple of weeks for delivery. When the delivery day passes and no cookies arrive, the crook will be long gone.

What’s Scammy and What’s Legit?

Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to get your Girl Scout Cookies from a safe source. Here’s what to look out for:

  • A legitimate Girl Scout Cookie post will offer specific details, like:
    • A URL to the Cookie Finder, or a personalized website for ordering, beginning with “gsdigitalcookie.com”
    • The time and location where the kiddos will be setting up to sell their cookies in-person
    • A variety of payment options, and no sense or urgency (pay when the cookies arrive)
  • A scam post will seem fishy, if you take notice:
    • the child’s name or troop is not mentioned
    • the cookie prices are wrong or too low
    • the posting account is no one you know and you have no mutual Facebook friends with them
    • the post has commenting turned off

If you see a scam post on Facebook, report it to the group’s admin or moderator. You can report it to Facebook, too, but they are unlikely to do anything.

For more info on how to get these delicious cookies, check out the Girls Scouts Cookie Program website.

Duct Cleaning Scams v2.0

If you aren’t familiar with the duct cleaning scams that abound on Facebook, I recommend you first check out my 2021 post on this matter. Once you’re up to speed on the basics, it’s time to discuss the new-and-improved duct cleaning scams. Duct Cleaning Scams v2.0 are beginning to spread throughout Facebook. Don’t fall for them and be ready to report them.

Upgrades

Duct cleaning scams are the same as before: People located in Pakistan are posting in American Facebook Groups, trying to sell duct cleaning services.

They use sock puppet accounts that make them look American. Posing as “local companies”, they are really just looking to schedule appointments, which they then resell to unlicensed people near you. The folks in Pakistan collect referral fees for each job s/he schedules. The people in America get suspicious cleaners at their door. Whoever arrives to clean ducts is not connected to any real company, and may overcharge for their service or commit other crimes.

But they’ve upped their game for 2024. The scammers are trying to appear more professional now. Their latest posts show a classy flyer with pricing, a business card, and a real website.

The wording of their posts is much improved, too. Gone are the copy-and-paste phrases that we rolled our eyes at, like “Believe our Work not Words!” Now they present more detailed and personalized posts that closely resemble everyday small businesses in our country.

Their sock puppet accounts are looking better, too. They’ve got dozens of them now, all sporting American names and stolen photos. They’re using the accounts to click Like on each other’s posts and photos, which makes them look active and more legitimate.

Same Tells and Giveaways

I am sure this is still a scam. First, I chat with these people. It’s the same ol’ schtick with them, but I still like to get proof when I can. I ask them where they’re from (Washington!) and then I send them a link to my address. (Oops, that wasn’t a link to my address, it tells me the location of the clicker:)

Karachi isn’t in Washington, good sir.

But there are other hints. Sometimes, I click the poster’s name to view their Facebook profile. And it catches my eye when their profile name doesn’t match with the name hiding in their Facebook URL:

I’ve tried calling some of their numbers (Houston TX area code, probably purchased through Ring Central), and no one ever picks up. But they answer texts and Facebook messages immediately. And they block me quickly, if I mention their home country:

And then there’s their website. The Titan website looks fine, but the devil is in the details. Looking up the domain name, I can see it was registered just 2 months ago, through a Czechoslovakian company. And while the images on the site looks crisp and pleasant, every single one of them tracks back to other, older, legitimate HVAC companies throughout the USA. Google Lens is really nice for doing a quick reverse image search, and it shows that these schemers just lifted their images from real duct cleaning websites.

Advice

  • If you recognize a duct cleaning scam, report it to Facebook, and then also report it to the admin of the group where it was posted. Facebook won’t do anything, but hopefully the group’s moderator will remove the post and/or block the sock puppet account.
  • Verify a service company’s identity with a simple phone call, or getting a referral from a true local. Make sure they have a contact number and address that makes sense for your location. Avoid contracting with any service provider that insists on texts or private messaging only.
  • If someone claims they have a license with the local county or NADCA, get that license number from them and check it out! Scammers will boast about having all their licenses, but won’t give them when asked.
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