New York Attorney General Letitia James has spearheaded a bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general in urging Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta) to address the alarming increase in Facebook and Instagram account takeovers by scammers. These account takeovers involve malicious actors breaking into user accounts, changing passwords, and effectively locking out the rightful owners. The coalition is calling on Meta to conduct a thorough review of its data security practices to better protect users from these fraudulent activities.
“Having your social media account taken over by a scammer can feel like having someone sneak into your home and change all of the locks,” said Attorney General James. “Social media is how millions of Americans connect with family, friends, and people throughout their communities and the world. To have Meta fail to properly protect users from scammers trying to hijack accounts and lock rightful owners out is unacceptable. I thank my fellow attorneys general for joining me to call on Meta to take commonsense user protection measures and dedicate more of their resources to respond to this threat.”
Once scammers hijack a Facebook or Instagram user’s account and change the password, they can steal personal information, read private messages, pose as the user to scam contacts, and post publicly as the rightful user. These actions cause significant harm and stress to both the account owners and their connections. Despite account takeovers not being a new issue, there has been a dramatic rise in these schemes over the past year. Users struggling to receive help from Meta have increasingly turned to their attorneys general for assistance and support. Between 2019 and 2023, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) reported a 1,000 percent increase in account takeover complaints. In January 2024 alone, 128 complaints were made to OAG about this growing problem.
To address the account takeover crisis and enhance the quality of service for the millions of users relying on Meta platforms daily, Attorney General James and the bipartisan coalition outlined several steps Meta should take. These include increasing staffing to respond to account takeover complaints, investing more in account takeover mitigation tactics, and adopting new procedures to help users protect themselves. The attorneys general also urge Meta to take the issue more seriously and enforce stronger actions against scammers.
Users who experience an account takeover by scammers or malicious actors are encouraged to raise this concern with Meta immediately. Those unable to resolve the issue can refer to Facebook’s help center for guidance on how to address an account takeover situation.
Joining Attorney General James in issuing the letter are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.