Facebook's attempts to verify popular accounts is not perfect, despite its best efforts. According to The Verge, the company mistakenly confirmed that a Facebook fan page created by Elon Musk was Musk's official account. It appears that it is run by a Bitcoin fraudster.
It has 153,000 followers at the time of writing. However, it admits that it isn’t Musk... at most in the About section. It states that it is a fanpage and can upload tweets from Musk. However, the URL ends with "ElonMuskoffici", which suggests they are attempting to pretend it's official. It states that the Page Transparency section says that the people responsible for managing the page are not based in the US. Musk is a resident in Egypt.
Engadget
The account currently contains 11 posts. While most are reposts Musks tweets, one post is clearly a fake Bitcoin giveaway. (The post has since been deleted). The 21st post is the oldest. However, The Verge revealed that the page was created under the name Kizito Gavin on July 28th 2019. There have been several name changes since then. On October 17, it changed its name from Kizito Gavin to Elon Musk.
Facebook verification requires account owners submit proof of identity such as driver's licence or passport. However, scammers sometimes find ways around this process.
We have reached out to Meta (formerly Facebook) for comment but have yet to receive a reply.
Updated 7:16 PM ET: The page is currently unavailable. It is not clear if the page has been removed.
