SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is a volunteer attorney in San Mateo County, California.

August 21, 2020

FACEBOOK FRIEND SCAM

Facebook is a terrific tool for staying in touch with old friends, former classmates, family, and community members. Unfortunately, scammers using Facebook’s Messenger service are trying to defraud by posing as long-lost friends. While this scam is not new, the request to take the conversation off Facebook Messenger and on to text message is a new twist.

Anyone who asks you to send money to receive money in return is attempting to swindling you. If you are asked to pay money to collect a prize, grant, stimulus check, or any other type of reward, it is a scam.

A scam begins when a recipient receives a message on Facebook Messenger from someone impersonating a former classmate or an old friend. When the recipient responds, the scammer strikes up a conversation to build trust. Once trust is established, the impersonator offers the recipient information on how to receive a grant, prize, or even government stimulus funds.

When the victim showing interest responds they are urged to pay an up-front fee and/or supply personal information (Social Security number, bank account/credit card information, etc.) to collect the non-existent money. Victims who do send the money are then urged to send even more money.

Here are tips to reduce your risk of falling victim to this scam:

*Don’t immediately assume your Facebook friend is who they claim to be. If you receive a message from someone you have not spoken to in a long time, do not assume that the message is legitimate. The safest course of action is to simply ignore the message.

*Test them. If you do engage in a conversation and become suspicious, you can try to verify the identity of the person messaging you by asking them a question only they would know (i.e., who was our 9th grade English teacher?).

*Beware requests to take conversations off Facebook Messenger. This is a big red flag for fraud.

Copy and paste scams:

Avoid this scam by ignoring any message on Facebook that urges you to “copy and paste” instead of “sharing.” 

 A tell-tale sign of such scams is misspelled or unusual words or phrases in the text of the message.  These messages may seem innocuous and they may make you feel good by helping to spread a message you agree with. However, by copying and pasting a message instead of using the “share” function, you may be helping fraudsters build lists of people to contact later with friend requests or other messages.

If you suspect that you have become a victim, report it immediately. You can file a complaint at http://www.Fraud.org via the secure online complaint form, or http://www.ftc.gov. Your complaint will be shared with a network of law enforcement and consumer protection agency partners who can investigate and help put fraudsters behind bars.

ATTRIBUTION: http://www.fraud.org