Beware the Facebook 419 scam – is that really your friend?
It’s a sad fact of life that the Internet has had one major negative impact on our lives – giving fraudsters and scammers new ways to try and trick us out of money. The Nigerian scam, or 419 fraud, has been sprung via email for years, but it’s now come to social networking sites as well, particularly Facebook. In fact, it’s become such a regular occurrence that the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has issued a warning.
The Nigerian or 419 scam can take many forms and utilize any of a number of communicative devices. Be it from a phone call telling you you’ve won a prize and that you need to hand over your bank details for a “processing fee”, or an email from someone claiming to be an associate of a king in an African country who needs a bank account to transfer millions of dollars in to, they all come under this umbrella.
Social networks such as MySpace and Facebook offer fraudsters a new method of deceiving someone. Details of how this scam was carried out surfaced in January with the release of a transcript of one attempt at the 419 scam. The fraudster hijacks a Facebook account and then uses that to contact the victim’s friends claiming they are in trouble and in need of money urgently.
People are more likely to be taken in by this use of the tried and tested scam because they think they’re helping a friend rather than some Nigerian businessman. Because although the vast majority of us have learned quickly the dangers of the Web, when it’s a friend in trouble, the usual checks and balances can go out of the window.
There has recently been an increase in this type of scam on social networking sites. In August, Facebook published the transcript of one on its blog. And things are now so bad that the FBI has issued a press release warning people how to safeguard themselves from being caught out by this particular scam.
In essence, the advice is to be careful about what information you share and who you befriend. Beyond that, it’s a case of asking yourself whether what someone is telling you is actually likely to be true. It all comes down to adding a layer of common sense to everything you do online because if it looks dodgy it probably is.
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October 2nd, 2009
I still don’t know who falls for this. Let’s just say my very good friend from high school is facebooking me to tell me that they are in trouble and need some money. What’s the first thing I’m going to do? Call them, of course, so we can hash out the situation. And if I don’t have their phone number, then I’m obviously not close enough to be lending them money.
And let’s say that I am the type of person who lends money to friends without ever speaking with them personally. Fine. How do they get the money? Don’t you usually go give it to them? I use Paypal, but that’s because I conduct business online. I can count on one hand how many of my friend have a Paypal account. Maybe Western Union would be the only way to do it. But overall, this scam just doesn’t seem that effective or efficient.
October 3rd, 2009
Stupid people, P.S. Jones, stupid people. The world does not lack in stupid people. Personally, if someone is dumb enough to fall for any of these scams, they deserve nothing less than to be taken for everything they have and be driven to destitute poverty.