The Sneaky Scams Hitting Facebook This Festive Season

As Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s approach, scam reports experience a sudden spike. According to Gulf News, “As Christmas draws near, it’s not just holiday shoppers bustling with activity. Scammers are also hard at work, devising elaborate schemes to take advantage of the festive season.”

Meta’s internal data shows that digital scams peak in November and December each year. Meta removed over 2.2 billion fake accounts involved in phishing in 2024. Gulf News confirmed it, saying “Facebook revealed recently that it had taken down over 2 million accounts so far this year linked to fraudulent activities.”

The scammers offered fraudulent promotions with lucrative prizes, and users fell for them. It resulted in significant data breaches and financial losses. According to cybersecurity firms like McAfee and Norton, holiday-themed scams increased by up to 30% during December.

Last December, Meta’s newsroom announced that “We’re launching a global anti-scam awareness campaign in collaboration with researchers and safety experts to help people avoid scams this holiday season.” They also stated that “We disrupted scam campaigns targeting holiday shoppers outside of our platforms and took thousands of malicious URLs that impersonated Meta’s apps off the internet.”

Facebook Marketplace and Messenger Are Prime Targets

Scammers list fake products on the marketplace and send clickable links in Messenger. Users click on these links that immediately hack their personal data. Scammers either use this data for blackmail or sell it to bigger phishing websites.

Besides this, users check out on their fake products that they will never receive, resulting in a loss of money. It also breeds distrust, even among genuine sellers. The most important products used in the festive season scams include travel packages, electronics, decorative items, precious gifts, and toys.

In case of messenger scams, they first become your friends and then ask for urgent help. In some cases, they may hack your account and send messages to your family and friends for immediate assistance. Your family trusts you and can’t see you in trouble, so they send money as quickly as possible.

The other common tactics include fake giveaways like “10 Days of Christmas” prizes, or they might use phrases like “Win iPhones on this Christmas”. These are just data harvesting techniques. You may also receive these scam invites in event invitation cards and festive video forms.

Besides these techniques, they also use charity scams mimicking famous nonprofit organisations. They only stay for a limited time and show a seasonal generosity, making videos of gift distribution among children or fashion among elders. Those who are impulsive decision-makers are the ideal targets of these scammers.

How to Stay Safe While You Celebrate

Keep in mind that everything too good to be true may be phishy. Think logically and avoid clicking on every link you receive. Whenever you receive an offer, do practical calculations and analyse why they will give me something too costly. Scammers are not as clever as you think; however, your greed is their strength.

They utilise people’s psychological triggers to their own benefit. They plan according to the occasion and show themselves as most faithful and caring. To prevent such scams, you need sufficient knowledge and patience. Don’t be impulsive and avoid reacting to every single thing.

Everything that comes more than expected means you have to pay off later. However, if you encounter any scam, you should immediately use Facebook’s reporting tools. You should report fake accounts to Meta, take action, and help keep other users safe from what happened to you.