If you’re managing any Facebook pages, you might have noticed an uptick in scam messages in your inbox in the last few months. The team at EAT Digital all work closely with their own clients, and managing a multitude of Facebook pages means we encounter 30 or more of these types of messages weekly.

Typically, the messages begin like this:

“⚠️ Important message: Your Facebook page is slated for permanent deletion due to a post that violated our trademark rights. We reached this decision after a thorough review and in accordance with our intellectual property protection policy.”

Remember, Facebook will never contact you through a profile or page on Messenger with any official notifications, and these messages are invariably scams leading to phishing sites. Entering your details on these fraudulent pages could result in the loss of your Facebook account.

Luckily, we’ve found a simple method to filter these messages out, freeing you from the hassle of disruptive notifications that aren’t from genuine customers.

So, without further delay, let’s dive into how you can prevent these aggravating scam messages from cluttering up your inbox.

How to Stop SPAM Messages

There’s an easy way to stop these spam messages landing in your inbox. The basics: we’re going to show you how to set up an automation that checks for spammy keywords (such as trademark or fanpage) and then moves any messages containing those keywords straight into your spam folder. Voila! No more spam clogging your inbox and notifications.

How to Setup the Automation

Follow the steps below to setup an automation that will silently remove the offending messages. You can also scroll to the bottom of this post to view a video walkthrough.

1. Switch into Your Facebook Page: if you’re using the the new Facebook Page experience make sure you’ve switched into your page.

2. Access Messenger: Click on the Messenger icon in the top right corner to open your Page’s Inbox.

3. Open Automations: Tap the automation icon (resembling an atom) at the top right of your Page Inbox.

4. Create a new Automation: Select the ‘Create Automation‘ option located at the top right.

5. Begin from Scratch: Opt for the ‘+Start from Scratch‘ button to create a custom automation.

6. Name Your Automation: For example, “Hide Facebook Scams” to easily identify its purpose.

7. Choose the Channel: Set ‘Messenger’ as the communication channel for this automation. You can create a similar automation for Instagram if you also receive scam messages there.

8. Define the Trigger Event: Under ‘When this happens‘, pick ‘New message received‘.

9. Set Conditions: Choose ‘Any of the following conditions‘, as you’ll need to put each keyword as a separate condition.

10. Specify Keywords: Choose ‘Keywords‘ as your condition.

11. Enter Trigger Keywords: In the ‘Message text contains all of the following keywords‘ field, input a keyword commonly used by scammers, but not by your customers, such as “trademark”, “infringed”, or “deletion”. NOTE: You can only place one keyword in each condition.

12. Select Action: In the ‘Take this action’ segment, choose ‘Mark as‘ for the action and ‘Move to Spam‘ for the last step.

13. Save Your Automation: Confirm the settings by clicking ‘Save Changes’. Congratulations, you’re done! Any messages containing your keywords will move straight to the spam box and won’t bother you again.

Watch our full video guide below:

What if You Still Receive Scam Messages?

If you’re still having trouble with scam message, there could be a few different reasons:

1. Check if the new messages contain the blocked keywords. If not, you can find new keywords and update the automation with additional keyword conditions as needed.

2. Make sure every keyword is entered in a separate condition.

3. Make sure you’ve pressed enter after typing the keyword (it should appear with a grey box and an X beside it).