Report the copy to Facebook as impersonating your business, and the copied photos and logo separately. Warn followers from your real page, and link it from your website so customers can tell which is genuine.

A giveaway you never ran

Customers start messaging your Facebook page to ask how to claim their prize. You have not run a contest.

Somewhere on Facebook is a page with your name, perhaps with an extra word, your logo and your photographs, announcing a giveaway: like the page, share the post, comment, then follow the instructions to claim.

The instructions end in a form asking for personal details, or a small payment described as a shipping or booking fee.

Your customers think it is you. Even after they learn otherwise, some will remember your name attached to it.

What these pages are after

The fourth explains why some copies ask for nothing at first. A page that gathers thousands of likes on a borrowed name is worth something once it is renamed.

How to tell the copy from the real page

A copy usually has a short history: few posts before the giveaway, few photos that are not yours, and a name with something added, such as Giveaway, Fans or Offers.

The prize is out of scale: a trip or a thousand-dollar gift card from a business that usually offers a free coffee.

And the rules break Facebook's own. Pages may not make sharing on a timeline, or tagging friends, a condition of entry, so a giveaway demanding both is a warning sign by itself.

A message to a winner asking for card details, or asking them to click a link to confirm, settles it.

Reporting the page

Before anything else, take screenshots of the copy, its giveaway post and any messages customers forward. Pages can vanish or change, and the screenshots are your record.

Then report it through the page's own menu as a page pretending to be your business.

Facebook also has forms for reporting copyright and trademark misuse. Photographs you took, and a logo you have registered, give it a second and separate reason to act.

Do not comment on the copy's posts. Every comment, even a warning, pushes them in front of more people.

Warning followers from the real page

Pin a short warning to the top of your genuine page: a page using our name and photos is running a giveaway; it is not us; we never charge a fee to claim a prize.

Answer every message about it the same way, and give whoever answers the phone the same few sentences.

If the copy has spread among your customers, add a line to your next newsletter. People who rarely see your page may still have seen the giveaway.

If customers already paid or shared details

Anyone who paid by card should call their card issuer straight away, using the number on the back of the card.

Anyone who typed a password into a linked page should change it, there and anywhere else it was used.

Anyone who gave a phone number or birth date should expect calls or messages pretending to be you, and treat them with suspicion.

None of it is your doing, but customers remember who helped them sort it out.

A worked example

A cruise travel specialist, an owner and two agents in a seaside town, books ocean and river cruises for couples and family groups, and posts ship photos and port tips on Facebook.

One week in October the office phone began ringing with people asking how to claim their free cruise.

A page with the agency's name plus the word Giveaway, its logo and a dozen of its photos had announced a seven-night cruise for two.

Entrants were told to like, share and comment, and the post spread widely within two days, much of it among the agency's own followers. Winners then got a message asking for a booking fee by card.

The owner reported the page as impersonating the business and filed a copyright report for the photos, all taken by her agents on sailings. A pinned warning went up on the real page.

The agents answered every call the same way: not us, never a fee, call your card issuer if you paid. The copy was gone within the week, and the website now links to the real page.

Make the real page easy to recognise

A copy convinces people because they have no quick way to check it. Give them one.

Link your real page from the website's header or footer, using its own web address, and say on the website that it is your only Facebook page.

Make the link run both ways: the real page's About section should give your website and the phone number on your Google listing, so anyone comparing pages can see which matches.

Use the same name and profile picture on every network. Consistency makes a copy with a slightly different name easier to spot.

Run genuine giveaways openly

When you run a promotion, publish its rules on your website, run it only from your real page, and never require sharing, tagging or payment.

Announce winners on the real page, contact them only from it, and never ask for card details. Once customers know how your giveaways work, a copy that works differently stands out.

The counter-case

Copies cannot be prevented, and Facebook decides what comes down and how quickly. Some reports are dealt with in days; others take longer.

Small local businesses are copied less often than airlines, cruise lines and large retailers. A business without a Facebook page can be copied too, and then the copy has the field to itself.

What a business controls is how easy its real page is to recognise and how quickly a copy is reported. Do both, and search for copies every month.

The day you find one

  1. Screenshot the copy and its giveaway posts.
  2. Report it to Facebook as impersonating your business.
  3. Report the copied photos and logo separately.
  4. Pin a warning on your real page.
  5. Brief whoever answers messages and the phone.
  6. Link the real page from your website.
  7. Search Facebook for copies every month.

Step four protects the people the copy is aimed at. Reports take days, but a pinned warning reaches your followers today, the people most inclined to believe the copy.

Keeping the real page's own logins and connected apps in order is covered in apps connected to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Frequently asked questions

Why would someone copy my Facebook page?

To collect personal details or small payments through a fake giveaway, to gather likes before renaming or selling the page, or to send clicks to sites that pay for visitors.

How can I tell a copy from my page?

A short history, an extra word in the name, a prize out of scale with the business, and rules requiring shares or tags, which Facebook does not let pages require.

How do I report a fake page?

Use the report option in the page's menu and say it is pretending to be your business. Report copied photos and logos through Facebook's copyright and trademark forms.

Should I comment on the fake page?

No. Comments, even warnings, push its posts in front of more people. Post a warning on your real page instead, and pin it to the top.

What should customers who paid do?

Phone their card issuer at once on the number printed on the card, change any password they typed into a linked page, and treat follow-up calls with suspicion.

How do I make my real page recognisable?

Link it from your website, say it is your only Facebook page, and give the same website and phone number in its About section as in your Google listing.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

A page copying your name and photos?

Send us its link. We will help you report it, warn your followers and link your real page clearly.

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