How do I determine if a Facebook link is a scam?

Is this a scam? I clicked on a link in a Facebook post.



[Edited by Moderator]

Original Title: Is this a scam?

iPhone 16e

Posted on Jan 19, 2026 2:03 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 19, 2026 8:04 AM

Yes, this is a scam.



Remote sites cannot scan the contents of your iPhone. That remote access would be a catastrophe. If that access were possible, the same miscreants with these adverts would steal everything directly, as malware scans are deeply intrusive.


In this case, it’s probably a pop-up advert for a “coffee shop” VPN app, something which won’t address the reported “virus” issues (issues which don’t exist, BTW) , badly solves a problem that hasn’t existed for a decade, and badly solves the problem in a way perfect for collecting personally-identified metadata.


As for Meta and Facebook more generally, they’ve been making money from questionable activities and scams, per reports.



Problematic Facebook Marketplace purchases are a popular topic around here too, with folks purchasing lost or stolen (and useless) devices from there, and from other similar online markets.


At some point, I would wonder whether what is not a scam on the Fcebook website is worth wading through the ads and the scams and the fraud and the propaganda.



7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 19, 2026 8:04 AM in response to Mira232b

Yes, this is a scam.



Remote sites cannot scan the contents of your iPhone. That remote access would be a catastrophe. If that access were possible, the same miscreants with these adverts would steal everything directly, as malware scans are deeply intrusive.


In this case, it’s probably a pop-up advert for a “coffee shop” VPN app, something which won’t address the reported “virus” issues (issues which don’t exist, BTW) , badly solves a problem that hasn’t existed for a decade, and badly solves the problem in a way perfect for collecting personally-identified metadata.


As for Meta and Facebook more generally, they’ve been making money from questionable activities and scams, per reports.



Problematic Facebook Marketplace purchases are a popular topic around here too, with folks purchasing lost or stolen (and useless) devices from there, and from other similar online markets.


At some point, I would wonder whether what is not a scam on the Fcebook website is worth wading through the ads and the scams and the fraud and the propaganda.



Jan 19, 2026 9:54 AM in response to Mira232b

Of course it is a scam.


The fake storage graph showing that "viruses" take up about a third as much storage space on the phone as your apps is an especially "creative" touch.


Note also that the scammers could not spell "Apple Security" correctly. They wrote "Apple Secutiry."


Step 1 may be to "Install viruses removal app for free," but I bet when this app "finds" "viruses", it will tell you that you have to pay to remove them. And even though iOS sandboxes apps, I would not want to install whatever app the scammers are promoting on my phone.

Jan 19, 2026 2:24 PM in response to Mira232b

a good indication would be that the mail shows it was sent from the domain mellicator.com

why would facebook use such an email address to send mails indicating being from apple telling people they had viruses , which is something a website or even apple or facebook as corporations would never have enough access to your device to tell if you had.


also only way to install any type of software vira, malware and the likes on a non jailbroken ios device is apple app store, so links, mails, sites, or whatever can't install software on your device.

How do I determine if a Facebook link is a scam?

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