Facebook scam: What's the threat level?

[Johnny_L.A]

Yesterday I saw a post on my Facebook account from a friend. (Well, that’s obvious.) She said:

Hackers are busy on Facebook !!! They post some insulting messages on the wall of your friends with your regards, without you knowing about it. If you receive one of those messages in my name, it isn’t from me. Put this on your wall and warn your friends. Share the news…

I also received a message from an old classmate:

Hi [Johnny L.A.], Just an FYI, there is another [Johnny L.A.] in “Solvang, CA” claiming to be you on FB - He claims he graduated from our class & that he has some trouble remembering names & faces in the past few years. He attempted to Friend me, not knowing I knew you. I asked him when he moved from WA to CA, & he said he never lived in WA & that he is now searching for his friends. He is using some of your pictures on his profile…

It looks like he has closed the FB account. You may want check your credit report for any attempted ID theft.

I have not received any credit alerts.

What is this scam? What is the threat level?

[Alley_Dweller]

The fake Johnny LA, after gaining the confidence of your friends, will send them a message saying something like “Help! I’m in London in a hospital. I was beaten up last night by a robber and all of my money and credit cards were stolen. Can you please wire $xxx to me. I will pay you right back after I get home.”

I don’t think there’s anything they could possibly do to your credit report.

[Johnny_L.A]

That makes sense.

I’ve changed my password, too.

[Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension]

Great. Now send me the money.

[ZipperJJ]

I wondered why FB keeps suggesting a friend who already has an active FB account. This other person is clearly not him but has his unique name.

Another friend has a real profile listing him in Cleveland but really he lives in a small suburb 20 miles east. There’s a new profile with his name and his real city but all the other info is way off. No way he would not know a dude with his exact same name who went to the same small high school a few years later. This must be a fake person too.

[biddee]

That happened to a friend of mine except his profile was actually taken over. He also ran the ‘I’m stuck in London and lost my wallet’ story so I asked him where we’d met and he said he didn’t know. I warned all our mutual friends and the scammer ended up unfriending everyone that my friend knew. He had to recreate his facebook profile from scratch.

[biddee]

As for the first quote, that is a scam and people are perpetuating it by passing it along.

[robert_columbia]

@biddee

That happened to a friend of mine except his profile was actually taken over. He also ran the ‘I’m stuck in London and lost my wallet’ story so I asked him where we’d met and he said he didn’t know. I warned all our mutual friends and the scammer ended up unfriending everyone that my friend knew. He had to recreate his facebook profile from scratch.

Someone hacked a friend’s email and tried the “I’m stuck in <location> and need money.” This friend had actually (truly) asked for travel assistance in the past, but I knew this time it was a scam due to the totality of:

1. They claimed to be in a part of the world that they had NEVER talked to me about (never mentioned any family or friends there, never mentioned any work connections, never mentioned any interest in touring there…)
2. The request was very vague as to their trip. The last time they needed help, they proved oodles of information to me about exactly why they needed to travel before I even asked.

[Hogfather65]

@Alley_Dweller

The fake Johnny LA, after gaining the confidence of your friends, will send them a message saying something like “Help! I’m in London in a hospital. I was beaten up last night by a robber and all of my money and credit cards were stolen. Can you please wire $xxx to me. I will pay you right back after I get home.”

I don’t think there’s anything they could possibly do to your credit report.

This - it happened to my father - ‘he was stuck in Spain after being mugged at gunpoint and everything was stollen and the hotel manager was not letting him leave the hotel till the bill was paid’ - would have been funny as My dad was in Glasgow with us when we got his email but he is 78 and worried that some of his friends may have sent some cash.