While your legitimate Meta ads have been rejected, the company's own ad approval system is giving the green light to scam ads coming from verified pages.

And not just any pages. Those which claim to be Meta itself!

TechCrunch reports that a number of verified Facebook pages were recently hacked and used to distribute malware through paid posts to mislead users into downloading suspicious tools.

These compromised accounts included pages with official-sounding names like “Meta Ads” and “Meta Ads Manager,” which shared shady links to thousands of followers.

Some of these scam pages impersonated major tech companies. One hacked verified account, which previously belonged to an Indian singer and actress with more than 7 million followers, posed as “Google AI” and directed users to fake links for its AI chatbot, Bard.

Although Meta says all the impersonator pages have been disabled, fake accounts and compromised pages remain a problem for brands on Facebook and Instagram. 

Quoting TechCrunch: 

What’s most egregious in these cases is that the hacked pages were not only impersonating major tech companies, including Meta itself but that they were able to purchase Facebooks ads and go on to distribute suspicious download links. In spite of very recent account name changes, those ads were apparently approved without issue in Meta’s automated ads system.

Of course, Meta recently launched its Verified program that promises “proactive account protection” for $14.99 per month to secure a higher level of customer support. But it seems even verified accounts aren't safe.

Images: Twitter via Matt Navarra / Canva