When Facebook introduced its paid blue check verification system, the goal was to reassure users that the accounts they interact with are genuine. However, according to a report from Mashable this week, that system may have already backfired. A number of verified Facebook business pages have allegedly been hacked, with their names and URLs changed in the past week. To make matters worse, these pages that have been “confirmed as authentic” by Facebook have been running large ad campaigns on the platform.

It’s unclear how these verified accounts were targeted, but some of them have millions of followers that they have now been spamming with fraudulent ads. For its part, Facebook pointed to its successes in this area while emphasizing that bad actors are always striving to stay a step ahead.

“We invest significant resources into detecting and preventing scams and hacks,” a Meta spokesperson told Mashable. “While many of the improvements we’ve made are difficult to see — because they minimize people from having issues in the first place — scammers are always trying to get around our security measures. We regularly improve our methods for combating these scams and have built teams dedicated to improving the support we can offer to people and businesses.”

It’s unclear what Facebook is doing to address this problem, but these are major accounts with millions of dollars on the line. The company’s usual response probably isn’t going to cut it here.

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