# I reported a scammer on FB and I think he's retaliating **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407 "2010-04-08T14:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/21 "2010-04-08T18:57:42Z")
My mother had a similar thing happen, but it wasn’t on Facebook. It was a phone call at 2:00am. The person claimed to be her daughter and said that she was in New York, cracked out on drugs, and needed some money to come home. As the person called at 2:00am, my mom’s brain was a little fuddled and she didn’t catch on until the girl asked what my mom’s maiden name was. Fortunately, this person didn’t get any useful information, but I can imagine that that sort of call must work sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/22 "2010-04-08T19:00:16Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > 1. For your security questions that are often used to recover your password, you should probably not use the real answers to “What dorm did you live in” or “Who was your first girlfriend” and so on. I wouldn’t recommend this. There’s a good chance you’ll forget the fake answer and stump yourself. Or end up with [this scenario.](http://notalwaysright.com/like-himself-his-answer-was-full-of-crap/4882) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/23 "2010-04-08T19:16:46Z")
I use fake answers to security questions, but they’re logically derived (but only to me) and consistent, so I don’t forget them. For example, if it asks for my first pet’s name, instead I take the question as “what was your first pet name” and give the name my first boyfriend used to call me. Things like that. ---
**Author:** ![txobbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e8c25b/32.png) [@txobbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txobbin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/24 "2010-04-08T19:19:16Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Just a couple of tips: > 2) For your security questions that are often used to recover your password, you should probably not use the real answers to “What dorm did you live in” or “Who was your first girlfriend” and so on. > > snip… > [@Joey\_P](#): > > 2)IMHO that was a damn good question to ask. If this was really her she could have answered those questions with no problem, she didn’t and that ended the whole thing. > snip… I think **msmith** meant for your own personal account. Yes, a good question to ask _them_, but not to have that particular answer available somewhere in the account. So that as you said, her not having the answer ended the whole thing. **RealityChuck** , yep, been there, done that! Well, stumped myself, hehe, not quite _that_ scenario 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/25 "2010-04-08T20:15:12Z")
I got the London crisis email about a month ago. It was immediately obvious since the friend who supposedly sent it was on face book one day earlier lamenting the fact that her physical disability made it near impossible to venture out of her St. Louis Mo home. I put a message on my face book page warning friends that a scammer was crawling through face book friends lists and sending out distressed traveler notices. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/26 "2010-04-08T20:28:54Z")
This one sure is getting around. I know 3 people that have had their email accounts hacked and these “I’m stranded overseas, send money” emails sent out to their contact lists. Today’s lesson - Make your passwords more secure. At least one of the three had her account hacked by someone just trying all the words in the dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Shark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Shark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/27 "2010-04-08T20:36:50Z")
I hope to Og I never go to London and get mugged. Nobody will ever believe me. ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/28 "2010-04-08T20:59:10Z")
You’re very unlikely to get mugged in London full stop, but getting mugged at gunpoint is incredibly rare in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/29 "2010-04-08T21:07:30Z")
I created a special yahoo email account just to have a FB account. The yahoo account serves no other purpose. It contains no email address book, and when I login to it, I just delete every email I find (except any official FB emails) because I never use it to communicate with it. As for my FB account, there’s nothing in it to identify me. And my FB privacy settings are locked down tighter than a frog’s ass. All because FB is more of a lark. Actual human to human communication is my thing. You know, face to face and phone calls with distant folks. Must be a generational thingie. If I want to find someone online, there are plenty of specialized search engines for that. And a few new ones that datamine FB and other social media sites. So I can find your FB details without using FB. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/30 "2010-04-08T21:12:44Z")
I got one of those in a text message a few weeks ago. It was sent, apparently, to everyone in “Joe”'s contact list, and one of the recipients was in the next room to him. “Hey, Joe, how’s the weather in London?” The text also contained a misspelling that Joe would never make, as it’s one of his pet peeves. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/31 "2010-04-08T21:30:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I wouldn’t recommend this. There’s a good chance you’ll forget the fake answer and stump yourself. Then use something you’ll remember. Like \*\*OpalCat’s \*\*example. > [@Joey P](#): > > I’m not sure if these are aimed at me No. Not specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/32 "2010-04-08T21:31:44Z")
> [@StinkyBurrito](#): > > I’m not sure I get it. How did a scammer IM you with someone else’s name? Or did the scammer somehow just randomly guess your friends password and actually log into their account? A lot of password recovery tools ask questions that you can figure out by looking at FB contents. Pet’s names or kid’s are common passwords, and if you have your dog in a photo captioned “Rover’s birthday party”, well, there it is! Or if there is a family photo that is tagged and you mom’s on FB they might get a clue to your mom’s maiden name (common requested by password retrieval programs). Stuff like that. > [@Duckster](#): > > And my FB privacy settings are locked down tighter than a frog’s ass. I dunno, have you seen Kermit’s ass? I got the impression you could shove your whole hand up there. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/33 "2010-04-08T22:05:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > then about an hour later I get an email saying that MY page was compromised and involved in a 419 scam etc etc etc and my password has been changed. Looks like this was actually a legitimate email, but my first thought was that it was a phishing email from the scammer, trying to get you to log in to a dummy site. Glad that wasn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407/34 "2010-04-08T22:26:43Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Looks like this was actually a legitimate email, but my first thought was that it was a phishing email from the scammer, trying to get you to log in to a dummy site. Glad that wasn’t it. I’m 99% sure it was from facebook. It just sort of took me by surprised that my account would get locked down for reporting hers as being hacked. On the one hand I guess they might do that so if the bad guy puts any links on my page or sends me a text message with a link or does anything of the sort I can’t click on them, but the thing is…if I reported the problem, that implies I’m aware of what’s going on and besides other people where still posting on my wall so they could still see it. I don’t know…strange. Wait, I’ll bet they do it because some people have probably already been scammed (or at least accidentally given up their password) by the time they’re reporting it. All facebook was really doing was forcing me to change my password and giving someone on the FB team a chance to give my page a once over to make sure things like my email address haven’t been changed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-reported-a-scammer-on-fb-and-i-think-hes-retaliating/535407.md?page=1)