I have noticed over the past couple of years the increase in traffic of groups in Facebook which focus on history or heritage. I have joined a few. Most are obviously connected to the group’s subject judged from their intuitive awareness of local history, issues and events. But I noticed some anomalies with some of the history groups, often a misuse of terminology or simply factual errors. I didn’t think much of it until Elon Musk pulled back the curtain revealing the general vicinity of participants on X (formerly Twitter). He activated a feature that revealed the part of the world a person posted from. This “feature” particularly affected group chats, many of which addressed politics in the US.
In this example, I simply took the first thing that popped up on my X account and looked into its profile. As you can tell from the photo, the “Commentary Elon Musk” account was conducting a poll that touched on American politics. By clicking on the three dots and selecting “About this Account”, a few facts are presented, principally the point of origin. While this location is rather generic (Africa is a rather large place), it is enough information to indicate to the reader that the posting is from outside the United States. Anyone who knows anything about Elon Musk knows that he comes from South Africa, so this particular posting is really not an issue. But what this feature revealed were “thousands” of accounts that claimed to be pro- or anti- Trump sites that were from outside the United States. What people do with that new awareness will prove interesting to watch, as well as what “X” may end up doing with this information. It is my guess that an informed reader is the best deterrence to the threat of external manipulation. This added level of transparency should be a good thing.
Facebook Groups
Transitioning to the world of Facebook, I began to wonder the same thing about groups. I had not too long ago joined a group History of Missouri. I thought their postings were generally interesting, but what got my attention was a posting titled “First school you went as a kid in Michigan.” Michigan? The grammar was another clue, albeit not definitive. And then there was the name of the “person” posting the photo. “Dolly Parton Officiall?” Two L’s? Dolly Parton? It makes you wonder if postings are vetted at this site?
So I wondered if we could get more information about who is administering this site. To access information, access the group’s Facebook page, select “People” and you will see who administers the site. You can judge for yourself. One suggestion is to investigate each of the administrators. These three all come up as “Admin” pages, but you can view each of their profiles.
Why Fake Groups?
The answer is rather simple – networking. While monetization is part of this equation, Facebook is not necessarily known to be a hot spot for monetization. But networking? There is the soft spot. Just because you post a comment on a group page, do you expose yourself to a scam? How would that work?
- First, group pages take you outside your accustomed orbit of friends on Facebook. I know people who keep a pretty tight circle around their contacts on Facebook. I typically do not make Public postings on my private page. When I share anything, I share it only amongst Friends or a group of friends. But once I connect to a group, my presence is now outside my personal network. Everything I am posting on that group page is now public. At the least, it is only open to the members of the group. At the most, it is now visible to the entire planet.
- Second, your interest in a particular subject provides a gateway. Through this particular gateway, a scam can be generated that centers on the subject.
- Third, your profile is now presented to a larger group, most of whom are people you do not know. By clicking on your name they can easily begin to collect information on you. Unless you are very careful about who can view your personal information, outsiders can learn things such as your birthdate, e-mail or associated websites, names of other family members and work history.
The Gateway
Gateways are alternative portals by which people can contact you. Aside from my personal Facebook account, I also have one for EricN Publications. It is a public site. Like any other public site, it is designed to expand potential contacts exponentially. The EricN Publication site posts for all the world to see an e-mail address. This, in essence, is the Gateway I am speaking of. It should be no surprise that some pretty interesting solicitations have come to the Inbox. All of them claim to have read my articles or stories, but they have mysteriously overlooked the fact that I have written extensively on IT security and scams.
The trick, of course, is that the e-mail used on the EricN Publications Facebook page is a dedicated e-mail address. Once a message comes in, it is reviewed. What has been discovered in a suspicious message is a hook. It may take an exchange of three or more messages, but eventually a request will be received to hand over money. It is an interesting process to track. The drawback? It is a publicly exposed e-mail address. So it is likely “in the wild” by now and anyone can send me a message. But since it is a dedicated address messages need to be germane to the subject of the Facebook page. Junk mail filters can also be tuned to some degree around themes.
An added measure of protection would be to protect the messaging by requiring a “key.” Substack provides this feature by requiring that a reader be a subscriber in order to leave a comment or to send a message. This has proven to be quite effective. As a result, Comments was shutdown on the EricN Publications website, and rotated to Substack. This has totally eliminated the spam messages formerly delivered to the EricN Publications website.
So check your profile and make certain that private information is redacted from “public” viewing.
The Solution
I am not big on making judgment calls on individuals. I am not going to go out there and declare that so-and-so is a fraud. Finding people from overseas who are fascinated with this state is not a surprise. That they would wish to set up a group page on Missouri’s heritage makes me wonder, but it is quite possible they may reside in Missouri and have found that engaging such a group is an easy way to learn more about the state. But as you can see from my above observations, there are a few red flags that have emerged.
My solution is scoring. I used scoring to help Facebook users decipher real and genuine accounts in regards to impersonated individuals or fake Marketplace accounts. Groups are a bit peculiar and require a different set of standards. For example:
- Connection (or disconnection) from the group’s subject
- Reputation of the administrators (score each one)
- Authenticity of the postings (search for matching photos on the Internet)
Second, take a hard look at how you have your personal profile set up. Make certain that personal information such as your birthdate, e-mail and phone number are hidden from public viewing. This will substantially reduce your risk when you join a group.
History of Missouri has some concerns, starting with the Administrators. One admin borrows a photo of mule riders at a ranch near the Grand Canyon! All three have very low scores in regard to their presence on Facebook. I have detected several postings unrelated to Missouri. Others are misleading, essentially click-bait, such as old photos of towns in California or Oregon. One photo was posted depicting a river in Missouri but experienced floaters quickly identified it as the Buffalo River in Arkansas. If anything, this indicates a lack of vetting. At worse, it is simply click-bait.
Again, my intention in doing this exercise is not to declare judgment on the people who administer the page or on the page in general. But if their intention is to be genuinely interested in discussing the history of Missouri, I would suggest the following:
- At least one administrator that has a professional appearance
- Administrators that demonstrate an active presence in Facebook
- Administrators that have visibility on other platforms such as LinkedIn
- Administrators who actually reside in Missouri
- A credentialed administrator who has a background in history
- Careful vetting of content being posted. Qualify the postings by showing their source.
Group pages need to earn my trust. The tips provided above can help anyone who is administering a group page.
It would also be nice if Facebook could provide a trustworthiness index. I find it interesting that WordPress is replete with applets that can be added that focus on one important thing – the reliability and trustworthiness of the web page. The provider for EricN Publications provides a health index. WordPress has a health index as well. Search capability is graded. Presentation is graded. So why not have Facebook group pages graded in a similar manner? When a user sees a Group page that has a low score, they will be less likely to participate. It will provide Group page administrators guidelines to improve the trustworthiness of the page without having to worry about complaints or de-platforming. Just show the score. Let Facebook users decide for themselves.
© Copyright 2026 to Eric Niewoehner