meta-badge-center.com is an impersonation phishing domain whose name poses as a Meta badge or verification center. It targets owners of Facebook and Instagram accounts and pages, especially those hoping for a verified badge. PhishDestroy first flagged it on 2026-09-14, and it went offline the next day, 2026-09-15. As of 2026-10-19 the site remains dead, with its content blocked by the hosting provider.
How the scam works
Badge-center scams usually reach victims through messages or ads claiming their account qualifies for verification, or that their page faces a violation that a badge appeal can resolve. The victim is sent to a branded form asking for their login email, password and often a two-factor code. With those details the operators take over the account, change its recovery settings, and use it for fraud or resale. When last checked, the page displayed only the title "Deployment Unavailable," a hosting error message rather than a Meta lure, while our classification is impersonation phishing.
Evidence
On 2026-09-16, 18 of 89 VirusTotal engines flagged the domain. They include BitDefender, Fortinet, Forcepoint ThreatSeeker, Criminal IP, alphaMountain.ai, CRDF, CyRadar and the Vietnamese anti-scam group Chong Lua Dao. Spamhaus lists it in its Domain Block List under the phishing category (DBL_PHISH), so mail and DNS filters that use Spamhaus will block it. The domain also appears in 5 AlienVault OTX threat pulses and on the PhishDestroy blocklist.
Infrastructure
The domain was registered through Name.com, Inc. on 2026-06-21, about 85 days before PhishDestroy detected it. That gap suggests the domain was registered well before the campaign launched rather than spun up the same day. It resolved to 216.198.79.1 on Amazon.com, Inc. infrastructure in the United States. Its Let's Encrypt certificate gave the page a padlock in the browser, which says nothing about whether the site is legitimate.
What to do
If you entered your Facebook or Instagram password on this site, change it right away from the official app and sign out of all other sessions. Then reset two-factor authentication, removing any phone numbers, emails or authenticator apps you do not recognize. Check whether the same password is used elsewhere and change it there too. If you have already lost access, use Meta's official account recovery process, and warn your followers about messages sent from your profile. Defenders should block the domain at DNS and email gateways and search mail logs for messages linking to it.
Saved certificate metadata. Certificate dates without a timezone are shown as stored. Transport encryption does not establish that the site is trustworthy.
Template-based draft · optional AI wording assistance requires separate consent
AI 지원 초안 - 사고 세부정보는 AI 제공업체에서 처리됩니다. · 직접 검토하고 제출하세요.
After a phishing incident
피해자를 위한 권고 사항 및 조언
Choose the steps that match what you shared. Keep a copy of this report alongside your own records.
지금 당장 어떻게 해야 할까요?
긴급
Stop using the suspicious site. Open the real service through its official app or an address you already trust.
모든 비밀번호 변경 — 이메일, 익스체인지 계정 등, 동일한 비밀번호를 사용하는 모든 것
2단계 인증 활성화 인증 앱(SMS 제외)을 사용합니다. SMS 기반 복구 기능을 비활성화하세요.
카드 동결 피싱 사이트에 은행 계좌 정보를 입력한 경우
보고서를 작성하기 위해 어떤 정보를 수집해야 할까요?
FBI 지침
Keep original emails, receipts, messages and screenshots in a secure place. A factual timeline helps the receiving authority understand what happened. IC3 evidence guidance ↗
Payment records — if you paid, save the receipt, amount, date, payment provider and recipient details.
정확한 날짜 및 시간 — 각 거래 내역 및 사기범과의 첫 접촉 시점
스크린샷 — 사기 웹사이트, 채팅 메시지, 이메일, 지갑 거래, 소셜 미디어
모든 URL 및 도메인 사기꾼이 사용한 (다음과 같은 것들을 포함하여 meta-badge-center.com)
커뮤니케이션 — 사기꾼이 사용한 이메일, 문자, 전화번호, 사용자 이름
비록 모든 세부 사항을 알지 못하더라도 — 어쨌든 신고를 하세요. 부분적인 정보라도 수사에 도움이 됩니다.
Your bank or payment provider — contact its fraud team promptly through official contact details if money or card information was exposed.
지역 경찰 — 비록 당장 조치를 취할 수는 없더라도 공식 기록을 남깁니다
A report is not a guarantee of recovery or investigation, but prompt, accurate transaction data can help authorities and service providers trace the incident.
How do phishing scams typically work?
가짜 웹사이트 — 도메인을 약간만 변경한, 정식 사이트와 픽셀 단위로 완벽하게 일치하는 복제 사이트
pig butchering — Telegram·왓츠앱·데이트 앱을 통해 몇 주에 걸쳐 신뢰를 쌓은 뒤, 돈을 훔쳐갔다
회복 사기 — fraudsters pose as recovery agents and demand upfront fees. Never share a seed phrase or pay before independently verifying the provider
AI를 이용한 사기 — 딥페이크, 자동화된 피싱, AI로 생성된 사이트 등으로 인해 사기 행각을 적발하기가 더 어려워지고 있다
앞으로 어떻게 하면 스스로를 지킬 수 있을까요?
공식 사이트 즐겨찾기 추가 — 이메일, DM 또는 광고에 포함된 링크는 절대 클릭하지 마세요
도메인 확인 — 확인하기 PhishDestroy 상호작용을 시작하기 전에 HTTPS, 맞춤법, 도메인 등록 기간을 확인하세요.
About this reportSources, observation dates and corrections
This report combines saved page captures, registration and network records, scanner results and PhishDestroy reporting history. Each source keeps its own observation date. Open a source report to inspect the original result.
The AI-assisted analysis was written on . It describes the evidence available at that time; later source checks can change.
A capture documents what was shown. A scanner result records that provider’s assessment at the time of its check. Neither a valid certificate nor a zero-detection result is a guarantee of safety.
(US)
