A time or two I have written before about e-mail and telephone scams. Today I have a new scheme to share with our readers.
A few days ago I received a Facebook “friend request” from one of my cousins. Forgetting that we were already friends on that account, I went ahead and accepted her as a new friend.
As soon as I did, a very odd string of messages started coming through. It didn’t take long for me to catch on to the probable scam. To verify my suspicions, I set out to contact my cousin. Once we connected, I confirmed that her account had been hacked.
Having both a comic and detective mentality, I decided to keep the messages flowing between my scammer and myself. Here is the string of messages. [Note: The scammer is identified as S, and I am identified as N, and I did not correct any spelling or grammar on the scammer’s posts. Also, I will put my added comments to our readers in brackets [ ]:
S=Sorry for me resending you a friend request it is just that i got a trojan virus on my old profile so this is my new account now
S=hello dear how’s your family
S=Good to hear from you !! I was wondering if you have received your Cash Fund too.
N=What is Cash Fund?
S=I meant the Cash Fund donated to selected people by the International Monetary Cash Fund and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide financial assistance…..You’ve not gotten yours? I saw your name on the list of people entitle to this fund when my cash was delivered to me by the UPS Men at my front door Then i thought i will check if you have gotten yours too
N=YOU’VE been hacked. If you are Melinda – what are the names of your parents? Siblings? My mother’s name?
N=Hello? Are you still there?
S=i’m the one
N=How are your parents? Is cousin John back from his honeymoon? Did you get the flowers I sent for your birthday? [Note: We do not have a cousin John, and I did not send her flowers.]
S=Bill’s blood sugar is normal now i’m happy for this
N=So sorry to hear about your twin sister’s cat. How is the kitty feeling? [My cousin does not have a twin sister, therefore there is no cat.]
S=doing great now thanks
N=You bet. Our horse had a bit of colic but is expected to live. How is your horse, Pinky? [ I do not have a horse. Neither does she.]
S=pinky is well
N=I’m so glad. Is your Grandfather still playing semi-pro golf? He is so talented! I wish my dad could play as well. [Both our grandfathers and my dad are deceased. Neither one ever played golf.]
S=lol he still play
N=What does lol mean?
S=Bill thought me that lot of laugh you should try and check your name
N=How do I do that?
S=let me give you the agent contact so that you can contact him for you to confirm
agentpeteratef@gmail.com you should mail the agent and confirm if your name is included in the list
N=Is there a website?
S=i only contact them via email tell him you want to check if your name is on the list and you want to know how to have the money
N=Why no website – it sounds very odd. Hey, how did you get your money? What type of paperwork did they need from you? Did you have to pay a fee?
How much did you get? Do you think my Dad might have money too? I can have him check into it. Did your sister get any money? [Once again, my dad is deceased, and my cousin has no twin sister.]’
N=Are you still there? Everything ok?
S=Hello Neena I gave you the contact of the agent you should mail them and confirm if your name is still on the list and how to get your money I fill form including my names and address and others I was asked how I want to get the money which I fill
I received 30,000.00 I check the money very well no fake you can check your dad name also
N=Thanks. I will do that. I will let you know what happens. Please give me your phone number.
This is where the whole thing ended, for now.
I contacted a buddy of mine who owns LBTechGuy.com . I asked him to give a little advice on how to keep one’s Facebook account safe. Here are some of his thoughts:
This page, https://www.facebook.com/help/213481848684090, has a list of security tips from Facebook.
Look at the “extra security features” at the bottom. Login notification options are useful to verify that only you are logging into your account, as you will be able to see whenever your account is accessed by somebody else. But login approvals are more important to prevent third-party access. The feature requires you to input a code whenever you log on from a different computer or phone. It takes a little more time to log in to your account, but it will prevent anybody that doesn’t have your smartphone from seeing the secret code.
You cannot close an account that you don’t have access to.
If you can log in, there is a process to close an account. See https://www.facebook.com/help/359046244166395/
