The Friend Scam

Yesterday I got a friend invite from a senior that I know that lives in the village where my mom works.  She is a sweet lady and I always think it's super cool when seniors are tech savvy and using Facebook.  She then proceeded to use the chat function to start up a conversation.  I was happy to have a little chat with her but it quickly turned strange.  She started off by mentioning the the marriage of Mark Zuckerberg.  Once again, I thought it was unusual for a senior to be interested in that sort of pop culture news but I grinned and thought it was cute.  She started to tell me that in honor of the marriage they are picking random profiles and giving away $90,000.  I start to worry.  Things like this instantly ring bells of cation for me and I am concerned that this lovely lady is going to get taken in a scam. 

My conversation with her continues and the wording and content becomes even odder.  This person isn't talking in the method I would expect and isn't interested in discussing anything but the money.  Yep, I'm sure this lady has been hacked.  This is just not how the real person I have met would speak.  "She" tells me that she has actually recieved said money and that she noticed my name was "on the list".  I was told they came right to her door with a UPS delivery of $90,000.  I really need to contact this "Agent William" to make sure I get my money.  Just to see what kinds of information they are trying to get out of people I send off a quick email to the address I'm given.  Almost instantly a reply comes to me.  This is the email I received. 

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Ninty thousands dollars {$90,000.00 USD} on the on going Facebook Lottery Jackpot.All participant were selected through a computer random integrated system drawn in 15 million E-mail address on facebook.com.

This Program is promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the aspect that impacts peoples lifestyle worldwide.

 

Claims Requirements:
To claim you will need to fill this form,so that we can Locate Your Destination when bringing the Money to you.

 

Name...........................
Address.........................
City..........................
State.........................
Zip code......................
E-mail Address...........
Text phone...............
Occupation.................
Male or female.............
Age........................
Do you Own a house ........
How many cars do you have....
What is your worth of income....

NB
For security reasons and due to the mix-up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this notification strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by non-participants of this program.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel.

 

 

Please note that winners are chosen all over the world and no matter where you live, your winnings will get to you and that is the more reason why our facebook lottery office is located in Texas,United State of America.

If someone were to actually send them all of this personal information there is no telling the things they could do with your identity.  The only thing they didn't ask for is credit card information and that doesn't matter!  With this information they could apply for and max out any number of credit cards they would like and it would all be your problem to sort out.

This was a new method of scam attempt that I had never encountered or thought about before.  I wouldn't say I'm the most gullible person but I am somewhat trusting.  Thankfully I am also quite sceptical.  What make this type of scam so dangerous is this doesn't seem to be coming from a stranger.  This is someone you think you know and trust telling you they have already gotten a large sum of money and you can too.

I was able to find this woman's phone number and call her to let her know of the issues with her account.  As I was checking I realized that they hadn't actually hacked her.  It seems they had created almost a mirror account to hers.  There were two profiles almost identical however the one being used by the "hacker" did not allow posting on the wall, so I wasn't able to warn people.  I did talk to this woman and she made a status update stating what was going on and that it was a scam but I just wanted to let people know they should be Leary and keep in mind, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.