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I was just scammed on facebook chat


Spaceman Spiff

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I was getting ready to leave the house a couple hours ago when I heard that annoying pop sound that facebook chat makes when someone sends you a message. I clicked on the facebook tab and saw a message from someone that I worked with at my old real estate company. We'll call her Andrea.

Andrea asked if I was there, and I replied that I was. She said she was in an emergency and asked if I could help. I know her fairly well, I've met her kids briefly, I see her around town often...she's asked me before if I'd come take a family portrait of them sometime. One of those things that we've talked about a lot but have never found the time to do.

Anyway, she said that she was in London and that her and her kids were robbed at gunpoint. The robbers had taken everything except their passports which had been back in their hotel room. She needed 600 dollars to get home. There's more to it than that, but that was the jist of it.

Now...I'm pretty good when it comes to picking up scams. I fell for one on ebay once and I wrote about it here. But this was different...this was (or so I thought) someone that I actually know asking me for a favor. Who else but her would be on her facebook? To top it off, her and her family travel internationally a lot for summer and winter vacations. And, she's a little ditzy, I won't lie. So hopping on facebook chat to try and find someone to lend her money wouldn't have been my first move...but it seems like something that she would do.

So I told her that I could give her 300. I wired it Western Union which I've never had to do before. Apparently all you need to do is give them the confirmation number and the person on the other end needs some sort of a visual ID and thats all they need to do to pick up the money. More on this later.

Andrea told me that her cell phone wasn't working, which sent my BS detector off a bit, so when I left the house (I don't get good reception at home) I called her. Sure enough, it rang but she didn't pick up. I then called an associate from my old office who does a lot of work with Andrea...we'll call her Sarah. Sarah said that as far as she knew Andrea wasn't out of the country. She said she had gone to the Bahamas but didn't know of any plans to go to England. Sarah immediately called bull**** and soon we were able to track down Andrea who is in Delaware.

So I called Western Union and stopped the money transfer and spoke to their fraud department. Took 45 minutes and after that I called Andrea back and told her what happened. She didn't seem that concerned that someone had hacked into her facebook...like I said, not the brightest bulb.

A few minutes later I got an email on my blackberry saying the money transfer had been picked up in London by Andrea. I called her back and said "I thought I had stopped payment on it, but I guess not. All I know is that someone was able to prove that they were you in London and able to receive the money transfer...I'd be a bit worried about it." She laughed it off and said that it was impossible. Whatever, if it were me I'd be a bit more concerned.

Like I said earlier, I'm not one to be easily tricked. I don't lend money out often and I'm pretty cautious to whoever I lend it out to. It's a bit different when it's someone you think you know actually talking to you on facebook. I saved the conversation and have gone back over it and can see where it's a bit fishy...but at the time I thought "Who else would it be but her?"

Andrea told me on the phone that she only has 20 or so friends on there and never checks it...so in all likelihood I was the only one who happened to be on her facebook chat when someone hacked her account and asked me for money.

Just wanted to tell fellow Tailgaters...if someone you think you know on facebook starts hitting you up with an emergency and wants you to wire money to them, think again.

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Wow, that is freakin absurd

Keep changing those passwords people

Yeah, seriously.

I don't know whats worse. The actual scam or the fact that Andrea didn't really seem to care that someone was able to pass themselves off as her to pick up a money wire in England.

I told her that all the people needed was a passport to do it and she goes "That's ridiculous, I have my passport and it's locked up, that's impossible."

Apparently it's never occurred to her that identity theft is a huge problem these days and that she's above it. I told her just because her passport is locked up and she has her drivers license doesn't mean that there aren't ways to get scammed.

She still didn't believe me.

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That is crazy, it's not the first time scammers used Facebook though. A while back someone wrote on my wall telling me to click on a link to a video that was apparently of me.

Well the person that "wrote" on my wall I haven't spoken to since high school so there would be no reason for him to try to contact me. Plus there are no videos of me on Facebook and I know this for a fact.

I just deleted the post without clicking on it.

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That is crazy, it's not the first time scammers used Facebook though. A while back someone wrote on my wall telling me to click on a link to a video that was apparently of me.

Well the person that "wrote" on my wall I haven't spoken to since high school so there would be no reason for him to try to contact me. Plus there are no videos of me on Facebook and I know this for a fact.

I just deleted the post without clicking on it.

those are viruses, not scams

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Good for you for being such a good guy willing to help out an acquaintance/friend in their time of yikes. Sorry that it turned out to be a fraud. Andrea's reaction would piss me off. I would have felt really bad that this happened to you on my behest. What a ****ty way to treat a friend who just got rooked trying to help you.

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That is crazy, it's not the first time scammers used Facebook though. A while back someone wrote on my wall telling me to click on a link to a video that was apparently of me.

Well the person that "wrote" on my wall I haven't spoken to since high school so there would be no reason for him to try to contact me. Plus there are no videos of me on Facebook and I know this for a fact.

I just deleted the post without clicking on it.

Yeah, I've had people send messages asking me to click on crazy and weird websites. I've just deleted them.

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Good for you for being such a good guy willing to help out an acquaintance/friend in their time of yikes. Sorry that it turned out to be a fraud. Andrea's reaction would piss me off. I would have felt really bad that this happened to you on my behest. What a ****ty way to treat a friend who just got rooked trying to help you.

Hey man, thanks.

It takes a LOT to really piss me off. I'm really easygoing, perhaps to a fault. So I can see where you're coming from when you say her reaction would have pissed you off. It irked me a little bit but I also was more perplexed that she didn't seem to care that her facebook got hacked and someone was able to pass themselves off as her in a foreign country. That's her problem and if she doesn't care I don't know what to tell her.

She did apologize to me and offer to pay me back the money. She was concerned and a little shocked. I think she was in denial that her security had been compromised. Her indifference was more towards her stuff getting hacked, which was pretty weird.

Like I said, not the smartest one around.

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Did it go something like this?

FakeKate got mugged at gun point last night

Liz that's terrible! how can I help?

FakeKate all cash,credit card and phone was stolen

FakeKate my return flight leaves in few hours but having troubles sorting out the hotel bills

FakeKate wondering if you could loan me some few $$ to sort out the hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport

Liz well, first, call the american embassy. their number in london is 0-11-44-207-894-0007

Liz they will loan money to americans.

FakeKate yes, i have talked to the consulate over the phone but its taking them time and process to get me help

Liz well, they have a 24-7 number here in the US 202-324-3000. you can even call collect! isn't that super convenient?

Liz so what are you doing in london?

Liz what about paypal?

FakeKate no

Liz that is the fastest way to send money

Liz once I deposit the funds, you can print it out of any color printer and its real money!

FakeKate you can send it via western union directly to my name as i receive the few i have on me right now, you can even do it online at www.westernunion.com

Liz hmm, I really think paypal is better!

Liz they even have fraud protection.

This about happened to my roommate as well...

Obviously if you've seen any threads about this, you won't fall for it, but if anyone online asks you for money or anything, you've GOTTA ask them some personal things...

Such as, if you went to high school together, ask them what the mascot was... Or if they know your house, ask them what floor your apartment is on (especially if you don't live in one)... My roommate almost fell for one of these, but I recognized it because of stumbleupon where I saw basically the exact same conversation he was having...

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Your friend most likely fell for a phishing scam. She must have entered her facebook login information on either a website that looked exactly like facebook or told that it was in relation with facebook. The person on the other end took her login info, got in her real facebook and scammed you into this.

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If I didn't actually talk to the person on the phone at least I wouldn't send them money like that. So you are kind of easily duped...since you fell for an ebay scam too...don't get me wrong, it's unfortunate, and I loathe scammers/deception, swindlers, no good dirty tricksters lol trying to take advantage of others...they are scum. but wise up man.

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2 Comments, anytime anyone wants money wired to them based on Internet conversation....well you should know better.

You don't need a password to do this. Hackers find holes in software. As an IT guy and a programmer I can tell you no software is written without their being a vulnerability somewhere. It could have been a password hack, or just a known vulnerability amongs hackers.

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