Meta reportedly removed Facebook accounts and ads posing as FBI

A Fox News report published Nov. 8, 2026, said Meta told CyberGuy it had removed Facebook accounts and ads flagged for impersonation after reviewing examples sent by a reader. The FBI says the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has no social media presence and does not recover money through Facebook or Telegram. Fox News reported the Meta response; the FBI’s IC3 alert explains how to recognize a fake recovery offer and reach the real reporting site.

How IC3 impersonation works

The FBI’s July 20, 2026, alert describes criminals targeting people who have already lost money to fraud. In one pattern, someone contacts a victim through Facebook Messenger while posing as an FBI agent, then moves the conversation to Telegram and sends a link supposedly used to update an IC3 complaint. The link may collect more financial information or contain malicious code.

IC3 says it does not directly contact people by phone, email, social media, phone apps, online chat or public forums. If more information is needed, FBI employees from local field offices or other law-enforcement officers may contact them. IC3 also never charges to recover lost money or refers people to paid recovery companies.

Type IC3’s address yourself. A recovery link sent through social media is not the FBI’s reporting route.

Reach IC3 safely and file a complaint

Type www.ic3.gov directly into your browser’s address bar and check that the address ends in .gov. The FBI advises avoiding sponsored search results that imitate the IC3 site.

Include as many of these details as you have:

• The person or company’s identifying details, website and other contact methods.
• The transaction date and type, amount, and receiving account or cryptocurrency address.
• How the contact began, what the person requested and what information you shared.

If you already paid a recovery service, report it to IC3 with the transaction details. The FBI’s alert states: “IC3 will never ask for payment to recover lost funds, nor will IC3 refer someone to a company requesting payment for recovering funds.”