How to be Proactive Against Cybercrime

It’s in the news and the headlines are telling us to be proactive against cybercrime.

This can affect you – both if you are active online or if you are rarely online.

In the case of this post, I bring to your attention some things that I did recently in defense of this threat online.

Proactive Against Cybercrime

Big Targets on Social Media

I am in the business of helping snowbirds find ways to fund their travels so that they can have that easy feeling of affordable vacations.

To start potential clients off, I suggest they watch the video I have linked below my profile picture on this page.

For some, the concepts are new and for others their experience ranges very little on up to actually having their own online business but are having issues promoting it.

In the case of the latter they really don’t need assistance with getting started online.

And therefore I point them to someone who can coach them in the ways of organic social media.

And it was that very coach who found his online presence being the target of what I figure is a vindictive potential client.

 

How Was I Affected?

I was brought into this melee with a notification that my coach had shared my photo.

Out of curiosity, I checked out the notification and sure enough – there it was – my photo from my Facebook page with banner in the background.

It was a post with the text as follows:


Hello user!

🎉🎉congratulations 🎊 on being one of the few active users selected for the airdrop bonus.
All you have to do is send us a private message to claim and receive your reward.
Note: This is a special Crypto giveaway offer and is valid for 48 hours.
Congratulations once again

I thought this to be a very strange message but I replied back on the post saying, “Thank you very much, but I will decline your offer as I currently do not use crypto.”.

 

Further Investigation

Almost immediately I received a reply-back on the post telling me once again to send a private message.

So I went to check out my coach’s linked website.

And there he was with zero likes and zero followers and with a strange tagline that I knew to be false, “Clients flock to us like free tacos.”.

The picture was his and so was the banner.

But all I could see was pages upon pages of profile pictures of what I assume to be my coaches many clients – all with the same message.

 

My First Steps

Well I knew my actual coach had to be notified so I did so in a DM (Direct Message) and in an email along with a snapshot of the post I received.

But I knew more had to be done and to be more proactive against this possible cybercrime (the crypto).

And I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it.

I first started with my MS Edge Copilot but I was informed I had reached a limit on questions. 😦

Then given that I had a few other AI choices to go with I chose gemini.google.com with this question,

How do I report an imposter Facebook profile running in Professional Mode?

It turns out professional mode has no bearing on the reporting process.

My Visual Course of Action

To give you and idea of my process, I lay that out for you visually…

First I clicked the elipsis (yes, the three dots  … on the right and below the fake profile photo).

Then I reported the page as follows.

1. Report Page

 

 

 

 


2. What do you want to report?

Something about this page

 

 

 

 

 

3. Why are you reporting this profile?
Fake Profile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Who or what is it pretending to be?
A friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Which Friend are they pretending to be?
Name (I inserted my friend’s name and I selected the name that popped up.)

 

 

 

 

 

6. You’re about to submit a report
Submit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Thanks for reporting this Page
Next

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. More Options
Done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

Well, there is no conlcusion at this point.

I am in waiting mode for Facebook support to get back to me.

And in this day and age, I’m thinking it will be a Facebook bot reviewing the page and it could very well get back to me telling me everything is A OK (it’s happened before).

But my post is more so in the spirit of encouraging you to be proactive in reporting what appears to be of a threatening nature .

Be Proactive against Cybercrime.

Let me know if you have you seen anything similar in nature to this cybercrime threat?

 

6 thoughts on “How to be Proactive Against Cybercrime”

  1. Hi Robert,

    This is a great reminder of how important it is to stay vigilant online. I’ve had similar experiences with fake profiles and scams, and it’s really unsettling. I love how you took quick action by reporting it, and it’s definitely something we all need to do to help prevent these kinds of threats. Thanks for sharing your process, it’s helpful to know how to take the right steps! I’ll be more mindful moving forward. Stay safe out there!

    Meredith
    Meredith Moore recently posted…The Secret to Earning Commissions & Business Legal PagesMy Profile

  2. Robert, I understand how frustrating it must be to deal with impersonation scams like this, especially when they target people you trust. In my own experience with online business and social media, I’ve seen similar fake profiles trying to mislead users with FOREX and other scams. Your step-by-step guide on reporting the fake account is really helpful because many people don’t know the exact process to follow. It’s concerning that platforms like Facebook rely so much on bots, which often don’t take action unless there’s a large number of reports. Hopefully, more awareness and quick reporting by the community can help shut down these fraudulent profiles faster. Wishing you all the best, Atif
    Atif Perwiz recently posted…How to Create TikTok Videos That Actually SELL (Even If You’re New!)My Profile

  3. Thanks for the great information. Scammers are everywhere these days. It’s something I don’t like to think about too often. But denial isn’t an option, either.

    Thanks for sharing.

  4. Hey Robert,

    You’re right – it definitely pays to stay vigilant. I block phone numbers and I am pretty diligent with marking emails as spam.

    It’s a never ending thing, because there is new ones starting up every day and trying their luck.

    But so far, I have not been the victim of an attack.

    Thanks for breaking this down for us.

  5. It truly is scary to see that so many people use their intelligence and knowledge to hurt others. I am very sorry this happens. Just think if they use their powers for good! Thank you for sharing this extremely valuable information and for the reminder to be on the lookout for this behavior and I’ll say it, for these crimes!

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