# Fake Facebook message - link not clicked

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-facebook-message-link-not-clicked/960058>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 24, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-facebook-message-link-not-clicked/960058 "2022-02-24T16:10:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-facebook-message-link-not-clicked/960058/1 "2022-02-24T16:10:44Z")

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Yesterday I appeared to receive a message on Facebook from a cousin. ‘She’ was asking weather an award from Costco was legitimate, and there was a link. I replied that it’s certainly a scam, and pointed out that the domain was in Taiwan.

There was also a message from an uncle, and when I opened it, it was the same thing ‘my cousin’ sent. Only, I know my uncle was banned from Facebook. He couldn’t have sent a message.

Question: Was any harm done by replying to the first message? Or does the scam/malware/whatever depend on clicking the link?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-facebook-message-link-not-clicked/960058/2 "2022-02-24T21:32:37Z")

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Whilst it’s not unheard of for platforms like Facebook Messenger to have vulnerabilities that compromise accounts just by receiving a message, I haven’t heard of anything like that lately.

The most common and likely case nowadays is that the link goes to some phishing page that is styled to look a lot like it requires a facebook login, and that login is fake, so entering your account credentials there would compromise your security.

Replying to the message might have marked you as a live target, so be on your guard for more (and possibly better crafted/more subtle attacks)