On Saturday, November 11th; we and our customers were targeted by an online scammer impersonating our Facebook Page.
A couple days prior, we posted a Facebook Contest to increase our followers. The giveaway was for an Ice Hut. After the set period of time, a winner would have been chosen based on a random draw of the participants who completed the task.
A bad actor then proceeded to create a fake Triggers & Bows facebook profile, copying our photos etc, and responded to everyone who entered the contest telling them they had won, and directing them to a false page. They also created a generic post with the same instructions. Example to the right.
Obvious red flags with this sort of attack:
- We would not require you to Like and Share a second time
- You will NEVER be asked to register on our website here, let alone some website hosted at a freehost.
- You will NEVER be asked for Credit Card information unless you are purchasing a product from our store, through our checkout process.
Upon learning about this attack, we immediately deleted all comments by the bad actor. We also put out an official facebook statement declaring the attack publicly and how to avoid falling for the scam. However the damage was already done by this point.
Our OFFICIAL and ONLY Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/triggersandbows. You may not be able to see it even when going to the direct link as we are currently shadow banned. We are unsure if this was a case of people reporting the Real Account accidentally while trying to report the fake one, or if this was caused by the Bad Actors themselves. While we are logged into the Triggers & Bows account, we cannot see the fake account, they have proactively blocked us making it impossible for us to report it from our official account. Our Admins have attempted to report the fraudulent account on their personal accounts, but were met with the Meta AI/Algorithm stating that the actions of this person/these people do not break their Community Practices and Standards. Let me repeat that for you. Facebook’s official stance is that a person or persons, imitating us to attempt to steal money from YOU does not break their rules. I don’t know about you, but when I received this respond, I was furious.
We have applied for an appeal, and hopefully a real person will actually look into it this time. Even as a paying business customer, Facebook/Meta gives us no recourse as to contacting them directly, even about something as serious as attempted financial and identity theft. Every avenue we have explored has been closed. We will continue to update this page with the ongoing drama until we see some sort of resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience anyone has experienced from this entire fiasco, and we appreciate any assistance anyone can give us in mending this situation.
UPDATE: Nov 22nd, 2023 – 2:05PM. The process described below does NOT actually work. Attempting to put our URL in the box as indicated does not work also due to the shadow ban. After inputting the URL, the system requires you to select the business from a drop down, and since you cannot see our page, you cannot see us on the drop down.
If you would like to do your part in trying to report the fake account. With any luck, with enough reports, we can get this problem reverted, and these people shut down.
Go to the fake profile, located at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552969267099
Select the 3 Dots located under the search Box, as indicated with the red box to the right.
Select “Find Support or Report” as indicated.
Select “Pretending to be something” from the list.
Select “A business”
