{"id":742,"date":"2020-08-01T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T11:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fraud.flywheelsites.com\/fb_messenger_alert\/"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:30:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:30:42","slug":"fb_messenger_alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/fb_messenger_alert\/","title":{"rendered":"Use caution when talking to &#8216;old friends\u2019 on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">Facebook is\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">a terrific tool for<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">\u00a0stay<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">ing<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">\u00a0in touch with old friends, former classmates,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">family,<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW51183274 BCX0\">\u00a0and community members. Unfortunately, like other popular social media platforms, it also attracts scammers looking to abuse the system for their own gain.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">We\u2019ve recently heard from<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">\u00a0ne<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">arly a d<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">ozen consumers\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">who have c<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">o<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">ntacted<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">\u00a0Fraud.org\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">about\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">scammers<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">\u00a0using Facebook\u2019s Messenger service to try<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">defraud\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">them by posing as\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 BCX0 SCXW51183274\">long lost<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\" lang=\"EN-US\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun BCX0 SCXW51183274\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 BCX0 SCXW51183274\">friends.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--content_break--><\/p>\n<p>The set-up for these\u00a0scams\u00a0is\u00a0remarkably consistent.\u00a0Consumers\u00a0who sent us complaints\u00a0report that\u00a0these\u00a0scams\u00a0begin when they\u00a0receive\u00a0a\u00a0message on Facebook Messenger from someone\u00a0impersonating\u00a0a former classmate or an old friend.\u00a0When the recipient\u00a0responds, the\u00a0scammer strikes\u00a0up a conversation to build trust. Once trust is\u00a0established, the impersonator urges\u00a0the consumer\u00a0to send a text message to a number the scammer controls to get information on a grant, prize, or even government stimulus funds.\u00a0When the victim texts the number, they are urged to pay an up-front fee and\/or\u00a0supply\u00a0personal information (Social Security number, bank account\/credit card information, etc.)\u00a0to\u00a0collect the non-existent money. Victims who do send the money are then urged to send even more money until they catch on. Unfortunately, the money is often sent via wire transfer or gift cards, which are extremely difficult or impossible to stop or reverse.<\/p>\n<p>While this\u00a0scam\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fraud.org\/facebook_friend_alert\">is\u00a0not new<\/a>, the request to take the conversation\u00a0off\u00a0Facebook Messenger and on to text message is a new twist. This is\u00a0likely due\u00a0to the scammers\u00a0trying to evade anti-fraud technology employed by Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Here are tips to reduce your risk of falling victim to this\u00a0scam:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t immediately assume your Facebook friend is who they claim to be.<\/strong>\u00a0Thanks to widespread data breaches, it is not difficult for scammers\u00a0to\u00a0get the information they need to\u00a0compromise\u00a0a Facebook account.\u00a0If you receive a message from someone you have\u00a0not spoken to in a long time, do\u00a0not assume that the message is legitimate.\u00a0The safest course of action is to simply ignore the message.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Test them.<\/strong> If you do engage in a conversation and become suspicious,\u00a0you can try to verify the identity of the person messaging you by asking them\u00a0a question only they would know (<em>i.e.,<\/em> who was our 9th\u00a0grade English teacher?).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Beware requests to take conversations\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>off<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0Facebook Messenger.\u00a0<\/strong>Complaints we\u00a0have received often describe requests to\u00a0move\u00a0conversation\u00a0from\u00a0Facebook (where they can be\u00a0monitored)\u00a0to\u00a0text message. This is a big red flag for fraud.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anyone who asks you to send money to get money is\u00a0<\/strong><strong>swindling<\/strong><strong>\u00a0you<\/strong><strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>If you are asked to pay money to collect a prize, grant, stimulus check, or any other type of\u00a0reward, it is a\u00a0scam.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Turn on two-factor authentication and encourage your friends to do the same.<\/strong>\u00a0One of the reasons this\u00a0scam\u00a0occurs is that consumers tend to re-use passwords across multiple websites (your email and Facebook account, for example). That means that if your username and password are compromised at one website,\u00a0scammers can use that information to try and compromise your account at other websites.\u00a0An effective way\u00a0to reduce the risk of this is to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/148233965247823\">turn on two-factor authentication<\/a>. This will require anyone trying to log in to your Facebook account to\u00a0supply\u00a0a special code (typically provided via text message or an authentication app) before they can log in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bonus Fraud Alert: Facebook copy\/paste scams<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u00a0have perused your Facebook newsfeed for any appreciable length of time, chances are that you\u00a0have come across a message from a friend urging you to \u201ccopy and paste\u201d their message instead of using Facebook\u2019s \u201cshare\u201d function.\u00a0These \u201ccopy and paste\u201d instructions often come at the end of\u00a0a\u00a0heart-warming, controversial, or political\u00a0story.<\/p>\n<p>These messages\u00a0may seem innocuous\u00a0and they may make you feel good by helping to spread a message you agree with. However,\u00a0by copying and\u00a0pasting\u00a0a message\u00a0instead of using the \u201cshare\u201d function, you may be helping marketers (not all of who are legitimate) build lists of people to contact\u00a0later\u00a0with friend requests or\u00a0other messages. A tell-tale sign of such\u00a0scams\u00a0is misspelled or unusual words or phrases in the text of the message. Including those in a message helps the scammers search on that misspelled word or phrase and easily build lists of the people who have helped to spread the message.<\/p>\n<p>The easiest way to avoid this scam is to ignore any message on Facebook that urges you to \u201ccopy and paste\u201d instead of \u201csharing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you suspect that you have become a victim, report it immediately. You can file a complaint at Fraud.org via\u00a0our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.nclforms.org\/nficweb\/nfic.htm\">secure online complaint form<\/a>. We\u2019ll share your complaint with our network of law enforcement and consumer protection agency partners who can investigate and help put fraudsters behind bars.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fraud.org\/fraud-alerts\/\"><strong><u>Read our other Fraud Alerts here.<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scammers are using Facebook\u2019s Messenger service to try to defraud consumers by posing as long lost friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[133,117],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1201,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions\/1201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fraud.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}