The Complete Guide to Social Media Scams: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Beyond

A friend you went to school with posts on Instagram: she has been making extra income every week with the help of a trading mentor, and she tags his account. The comments are full of people thanking him. You send a curious message. He replies within minutes, friendly and patient, and invites you to a private group. It feels like a recommendation from someone you trust, because it looks like one. But your friend's account was taken over two days ago, and every post and comment is part of the script.

Social media is where billions of people talk, shop, date, find work and follow the news, so it is also where scammers go to find them. In the United States alone, the Federal Trade Commission reports that people lost $2.1 billion in 2025 to scams that started on social media, with investment scams accounting for more than half of the losses and shopping scams the most often reported.

This guide explains how social media scams reach you, the most common types on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn and other platforms, how to check a profile or an advert, which settings protect you, and what to do if your account is hacked or you lose money. It applies wherever you are and whichever platforms you use.

Why social media works so well for scammers

• Reach: adverts and posts can be shown to millions of people, targeted by age, location and interests.
• Borrowed trust: a message from a friend's account, or a comment section full of praise, feels like social proof.
• Information: your profile tells scammers what you like, where you work, who your family is and when you are away.
• Weak vetting: the FTC warns that platforms do not always thoroughly vet the adverts you see or the advertisers behind them.
• Easy exits: scammers move you quickly to private chats, other apps or payments outside the platform, where protections end.

The psychology behind it is the same as every scam, described in our complete guide to online scams. Social media simply delivers it with a familiar face.

How social media scams reach you

• Adverts and sponsored posts for shops, investments, loans, jobs and giveaways.
• Direct messages from strangers, fake brands or friends' hacked accounts.
• Comments and replies, especially under popular posts: "Congratulations, you won! Message us to claim."
• Friend and follow requests from fake or cloned profiles.
• Groups and communities for buying and selling, jobs, investing or hobbies.
• Livestreams and short videos promoting too-good-to-be-true products or schemes.

The most common social media scams

Fake shops in your feed

Adverts for heavily discounted brand-name goods lead to fake stores. Goods never arrive, or arrive as fakes. Our guide to online shopping scams explains how to check a shop before you pay.

Investment and "trading mentor" scams

Adverts, posts and hacked accounts promote traders, crypto experts or investment courses. You are drawn into a private group full of fake success stories, then onto a platform where your balance appears to grow until you try to withdraw. See our guide to financial scams.

Romance scams

A new connection who seems perfect, often working abroad and unable to meet or video call properly, builds a relationship over weeks before a crisis or an investment opportunity requires your money.

Messages from hacked friends

A friend's account asks for money, sends a link, asks you to vote in a competition, or asks for a code sent to your phone. The name and photo are real; the person typing is not.

Fake giveaways and prizes

Comments or messages announce that you have won, then ask for a delivery fee, your card details or a login. Fake giveaways also copy real brands and celebrities.

"Your account will be disabled" warnings

Messages claiming a copyright violation, a policy breach or a verification requirement link to a fake login page. This is phishing aimed at your account. Read our complete guide to phishing.

Impersonated brands, celebrities and support teams

Fake customer service accounts reply to people complaining publicly about a bank, airline or shop, then ask for account details or payments. Fake celebrity accounts promote giveaways and investments.

Job and "brand ambassador" offers

Messages invite you to become an ambassador, influencer partner or remote worker, then ask you to buy products, pay for training or complete paid tasks that require deposits. See fake job offers.

Sextortion

Someone builds trust, persuades the victim to share intimate images or video, then threatens to send them to friends and family unless paid. Do not pay, keep evidence, block, report to the platform and seek help. Young people are frequently targeted.

Account recovery scams

After posting that you were hacked, you receive offers from "hackers" or "recovery experts" who can get your account back for a fee. They cannot, and they will take your money.

Platform by platform

Warning signs at a glance

Illustrative examples, with the red flags explained

These examples are fictional and written for this guide. Links have been broken on purpose so they cannot be clicked.

How to check a profile, page or advert

1. Look at the account's age and history. New accounts with sudden activity are a warning sign.
2. Check the followers and friends. Real accounts have real, varied connections and conversations.
3. Search the photos with a reverse image search to see if they appear elsewhere under other names.
4. Find the official website yourself and follow its links to the real social accounts.
5. Search the name with "scam" or "complaint" before buying or investing.
6. Watch where the conversation goes. A push towards money, investments, private apps or secrecy is the clearest sign of all.

Settings that protect you

• Two-step verification on every social account, using an authenticator app or passkey where available.
• Login alerts so you know when someone signs in from a new device.
• Private or limited profiles: restrict who can see your posts, friends list, birthday and contact details.
• Message controls: limit who can message you or send message requests.
• Review connected apps and remove any you no longer use.
• Keep your recovery email and phone up to date, so you can get back in if something goes wrong.

Our guide to identity theft and account security explains two-step verification and recovery settings in detail.

If your social media account is hacked

1. Use the official recovery route: facebook.com/hacked, instagram.com/hacked, or the help centre of your platform, ideally from a device you have used before.
2. Secure your email first if it may also be compromised, since platforms send recovery links there.
3. Change your password and turn on two-step verification once you are back in.
4. Remove unknown devices, sessions and connected apps.
5. Warn your friends and followers that recent messages may not have been from you.
6. Ignore anyone offering paid recovery.

If you lost money or shared information

• Call your bank or payment provider immediately to try to stop or recover the payment.
• Keep evidence: screenshots of the profile, advert, messages and payment details, before the account disappears.
• Report the account on the platform so it can be removed.
• Report the scam to your national fraud or cybercrime service. Our online scams guide lists them for several countries.
• If you shared a password or code, secure that account straight away.

Oversharing, quizzes and challenges

Much of what makes social media fun also feeds scammers. Quizzes that ask your first pet or the street you grew up on can collect answers to security questions. Viral challenges that invite you to post your first car, your birth year or your children's names do the same. Photos of new bank cards, tickets, passports and boarding passes can reveal numbers that are useful for fraud.

• Skip quizzes and challenges that ask for personal history.
• Post holidays after you return, not while your home is empty.
• Check photos before posting for documents, screens and addresses in the background.
• Review old posts once a year and archive anything that gives away more than you would tell a stranger.

Fake recruiters and professional networks

Professional networks such as LinkedIn attract a particular kind of scam. Fake recruiters from well-known companies offer interviews that happen only by chat, then send offer letters with requests for fees, equipment payments or bank details. Other fake profiles build a professional connection over weeks before introducing an investment opportunity. Some target staff to learn how their employer's systems and payments work.

• Check the recruiter through the company's official careers page or switchboard.
• Be wary of interviews by text only and offers made without a real interview.
• Never pay to get a job, and do not share ID or bank details until a formal, verified contract exists.
• Think before listing exactly which systems and suppliers you work with; attackers use it to plan targeted phishing.

Helping older relatives on social media

Many older people joined social media to keep up with family, and scammers know they may be less familiar with fake profiles and hacked accounts. A short conversation helps: explain that friends' accounts can be taken over, that nobody genuine asks for money or codes in a message, and that they can always call you to check. Set their profile to private and turn on two-step verification with them.

Children and teenagers on social media

Young people are targeted with fake giveaways, gaming currency offers, fake modelling or influencer deals and sextortion. Talk openly about these risks before they happen, and make sure they know they can come to you without being punished if something goes wrong.

• Set accounts to private and review who can message them.
• Explain that anyone asking for images, money or secrecy is a warning sign.
• If sextortion happens: do not pay, stop replying, keep evidence, report to the platform and the police, and get support.

Businesses, creators and public pages

Scammers impersonate businesses and creators to reach their customers and fans. Protect admin accounts with two-step verification, limit who has admin access, watch for copycat pages and fake support accounts, and tell customers clearly how you will and will not contact them. Our guide to small business cybersecurity covers protecting your brand online, and CyberWatch AI helps organizations train staff who manage social accounts to spot account takeover attempts.

Common myths about social media scams

• "The platform checks the adverts." Not thoroughly, according to the FTC.
• "It came from my friend, so it's safe." Hacked accounts are one of the most effective scam tools.
• "Lots of likes and comments mean it's real." Engagement can be bought or faked.
• "A blue tick guarantees it's official." Rules differ by platform and badges can sometimes be bought.
• "Someone can hack my account back for me." Only the platform's official recovery process can.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. How to spot the top scams that started on social media, US Federal Trade Commission
2. Are ads on social media vetted or checked for scams? Here's what to know, US Federal Trade Commission
3. How to spot investment training scams on social media, US Federal Trade Commission
4. Recover a hacked account, Facebook Help Center
5. Hacked account recovery, Instagram
6. Account safety, TikTok Safety Center
7. Social media: how to use it safely, UK National Cyber Security Centre
8. Report fraud to the FTC, US Federal Trade Commission
9. Report cybercrime online, Europol