Have you ever searched for a customer service number online? NPR's All Tech Considered while working on a story decided to search for Facebook Customer Service. Prominently displayed at the top of the Google search results was a phone number. That number will get you a person but not from Facebook.

NPR gave the number to Pindrop which is a company that specializes in phone fraud. A Pindrop researcher called the number (you can listen to the call here) and asked for help in getting back into his Facebook account. The advice provided was to buy an iTunes gift card and call back and give them the 16-digit security code to receive a new password for the account.

This description should shout scam to you. Asking for a payment to reactivate a free service and requesting payment with an iTunes or other gift card are red flags. Check out the FTC and Apple alerts on iTunes gift card scams.

Facebook does not have a direct phone number for customer service. You can only contact them through their online help portal. Google has since removed that entry from the search results but you can still find the phone number elsewhere online.

If you need a customer service number, the best thing to do is to go to the company's official website. If they have a number, it should be there though it may be buried. If you can't find it and the company offers chat with customer service, ask them for a phone number.