• Sublime Core Feed

Description

Impersonation of Meta or Meta's subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram.

Sublime Security
Created Aug 17th, 2023 • Last updated Feb 23rd, 2026
Source
type.inbound
and (
  // sender display name is a strong enough indicator
  // that it can be used without any other impersonation logic
  (
    regex.icontains(sender.display_name,

                    // this regex looks for a commonly abused phrase starting with 'meta', potentially containing a version of the word 'verified', followed by phrases that have been observed in campaigns.
                    '\bm.?e.?t.?a\b.*(?:verif(?:y|i(?:cado|ed)))?.*\b(?:recruiting|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|account|help|support|service|business|policy|Vérifié|certify|inc|help[ -]?desk)\b',

                    // this regex also looks for a commonly abused phrase starting with 'meta', followed by a phrase, then 'team' with no separating spaces.
                    '\bm.?e.?t.?a(?:recruiting|pro|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|service|account|help|support|business|policy)team',

                    // this regex is similar to the first in this section, but starts with facebook instead of meta
                    '\bf.?a.?c.?e.?b.?o.?o.?k\b.*(?:verif(?:y|i(?:cado|ed)))?.*\b(?:recruiting|ads[ -]?team|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|service|account|help|support|business|policy|Vérifié|certify|inc|help[ -]?desk)\b',
                    '^[a-z]+ from \bmeta$',
                    'page ?ads ?support',
                    'Instagram\s*(?:Not|Policies|Report|Helpdesk|Support)',
                    '\bMeta & Coursera',
                    'Compliance & Security',
                    'social.?media.?\b(?:master|expert|pro|guru)\b',
                    '\bmeta\b.?(?:social|skill|ads).?(?:star|set|expert)'
    )
    or (
      regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
                      "f\u{200a}?a\u{200a}?c\u{200a}?e\u{200a}?b\u{200a}?o\u{200a}?o\u{200a}?k"
      )
      and not strings.icontains(sender.display_name, 'facebook')
    )
    or strings.contains(sender.display_name, "\u{24C2}")
    or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook ads') <= 2
    or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook business') <= 2
    or strings.ilike(sender.email.domain.domain, '*facebook*')
    or strings.ilike(sender.email.local_part,
                     "*instagramlive*",
                     "*facebooksupport*"
    )
    or strings.icontains(sender.email.domain.subdomain, 'meta-')
  )
  // the use of these keywords (facebook, instagram)
  // or the levenshtein distance to facebook
  // are less strong and thus need to be combined with logo detection or nlu
  or (
    (
      regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
                      '\bf[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*a[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*c[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*e[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*b[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*o[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*o[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*k[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*\b',
                      '\binstagr(am)?\b',
                      '\bm[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*e[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*t[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*a\b'
      )
      or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook') <= 2
      or sender.email.email == 'noreply@appsheet.com'
    )
    and 2 of (
      any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands,
          .name in ("Facebook", "Meta", "Instagram", "Threads")
      ),
      any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
          .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
          and .confidence in ("medium", "high")
      ),
      (
        length(body.current_thread.text) < 2000
        and regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "(?:violation|infringe)")
      ),
      regex.icontains(subject.base,
                      '\b(?:recruiting|permanently|locked|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|account|help|support|business|policy|verif(?:y|i(?:cado|ed))|Vérifié|Trademark|Misuse|Review|Violation|Warning|Restriction|Inappropriate|service|Content|multiple reports)\b'
      ),
      any(body.links,
          .href_url.domain.root_domain in $self_service_creation_platform_domains
          or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $free_file_hosts
          or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $free_subdomain_hosts
          or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $url_shorteners
      ),
      sender.email.domain.root_domain in $free_email_providers
    )
  )
  // salesforce sender combined with logo detection and nlu is enough
  or (
    sender.email.domain.root_domain == "salesforce.com"
    and any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands,
            .name in ("Facebook", "Meta", "Instagram", "Threads")
    )
    and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
            .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
            and .confidence in ("medium", "high")
    )
  )
  or 
  // or the body contains a facebook/meta footer with the address citing "community support"
  (
    (
      regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
                      '(?:1\s+(?:Facebook|Hacker|Meta)?\s*Way|1601\s+Willow\s+Rd?).*Menlo\s+Park.*CA.*94025'
      )
      or (
        regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
                        '(?:Security Team © Meta|Meta Support Team)'
        )
      )
    )
    // and it contains a link to spawn a chat with facebook - this is not the way support operates
    and (
      any(body.links,
          strings.ends_with(.href_url.domain.domain, 'facebook.com')
          and strings.starts_with(.href_url.path, '/msg/')
      )
      or (
        any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
            .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
            and .confidence in ("high")
        )
      )
      or any(recipients.to,
             .email.domain.valid
             and any(body.links,
                     strings.icontains(.href_url.url, ..email.email)
                     or any(beta.scan_base64(.href_url.url,
                                             format="url",
                                             ignore_padding=true
                            ),
                            strings.icontains(., ...email.email)
                     )
                     or any(beta.scan_base64(.href_url.fragment,
                                             ignore_padding=true
                            ),
                            strings.icontains(., ...email.email)
                     )
             )
      )
    )
  )
  // we've seen advertising "advice/recommendations"
  or (
    all(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).topics,
        .name in ("Advertising and Promotions", "Reminders and Notifications")
    )
    // Meta mention
    and (
      any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
          .name == "org" and strings.icontains(.text, 'Community Guidelines')
      )
      or regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
                         '(1\s+(Facebook|Hacker|\bMeta\b)?\s*Way|1601\s+Willow\s+Rd?).*Menlo\s+Park.*CA.*94025'
      )
    )
    and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
            .name == "urgency"
    )
  )
  or (
    strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "Meta Professional Certificate")
    and strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "Meta & Coursera Team")
    // Add link validation
    and any(body.links,
            strings.icontains(.display_text, "coursera")
            and .href_url.domain.root_domain != "coursera.org"
    )
  )
  or 2 of (
    strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'Meta '),
    strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, '1602 Willow Road'),
    strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'Menlo Park, CA 91024'),
  )
)
and sender.email.domain.root_domain not in~ (
  'facebook.com',
  'facebookmail.com',
  'eventsatfacebook.com',
  'facebookenterprise.com',
  'meta.com',
  'metamail.com',
  'instagram.com',
  'medallia.com',
  'fbworkmail.com',
  'workplace.com',
  'capterra.com', // they mention "Community Guidelines"
  'facebookblueprint.com',
  'metaenterprisemail.com',
  'pigfacebookstore.com.au', // unrelated domain but hitting on facebook
  'metacompliance.com',
  'metaprop.com', // unrelated domain but hitting on meta pro
  'oakley.com', // meta intelligence glasses
  'facebookuserprivacysettlement.com', // fb settlement website
  'perceptyx.com', // ai employee engagement
  'unroll.me', // unroll contains instagram logo
  'har.com' // facebook ads management
)
// negate metaenterprise links
and not any(headers.reply_to, .email.email == "noreply@facebookmail.com")

// meta wiki renamer
and not (
  sender.display_name == 'Meta-Wiki'
  and sender.email.domain.root_domain == 'wikimedia.org'
)

// we dont want emails where all the links go to meta domains
and not (
  (
    length(body.links) > 1
    and all(body.links,
            .href_url.domain.root_domain in (
              'facebook.com',
              'instagram.com',
              'meta.com'
            )
            and not strings.istarts_with(.href_url.path, '/share/')
    )
  )
  // too many links
  or length(body.links) > 20
)

// no previous threads
and length(body.previous_threads) == 0

// negate highly trusted sender domains unless they fail DMARC authentication
and (
  (
    sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
    and not headers.auth_summary.dmarc.pass
  )
  or sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $high_trust_sender_root_domains

  // salesforce has been abused for meta phishing campaigns repeatedly
  or sender.email.domain.root_domain == "salesforce.com"
)
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