Facebook Friend Request from “Imposter Friend” with $150K Scam

I received several Friend Request from an existing Friend which turned out to be an imposter trying to sell me on a $150K Scam

The friend requests had my friend’s name and photos exactly as it looked on their existing account. At first, I thought they created a new Facebook account for some reason so I accepted their friend requests.

Soon afterwards, I received a chat message from one of her new accounts. I hadn’t spoken to this friend for a few years. The chat started out with the usual types of messages such as how have you been and stuff where we’re exchanging messages. I sent a photo of me & my wife, our son and our new home.

Then she says;

“I really have some good news to share with you if you don’t mind?”

I wrote back and sent a message with my phone number saying I was available to talk.  She didn’t call. About 15 minutes later, I get the messages below;

“Have you heard about the federal government grant organization set up to help people financially with money all over the states for hearing, semi-retire, retired, old, disable, widows, divorced and workers. Do you get any mail from them?”

I was puzzled by that message because I’m not old or retired and neither is she. I wrote back and said “No”. Then she sends this message;

“It’s a new program, it was sponsored by the government in conjunction with the world bank to help people in the society to meet up their needs, I got $150,000 delivered to me at my doorstep when I applied for the program and you don’t have to pay it back.”

I wrote her back and said thanks, but I don’t need anything because I recently received a large inheritance. She wrote back and said “I should apply anyway”. I wrote back and said “thanks, but no thanks”.  She wrote back and said she may be visiting us sometime this years and we ended the chat.

By now, I’m suspicions, so I sent a chat to my friend’s old account which had been active for several years, with copies of the messages I received, asking if she sent them. Several hours later, she confirmed that she didn’t send them and was shocked to find that someone was using her identity and photos for a scam.

I unfriended the imposter and followed the instructions on Reporting someone pretending to be someone else on Facebook Messenger

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In a few hours, I noticed that Facebook had shut the imposter’s account down.

I’m a bit concerned about having sent recent photos of me & my wife, son (who’s in college) and home to the imposter. Fortunately, they don’t have my home address.

Am not sure what the object of the scam is, but I’m glad I didn’t “apply” and give the scammer any of my financial info. Am very fortunate to not need $150K.

 

BBB Scam Alert: Watch out for Facebook “friends” pushing phony COVID grants

BBB is receiving reports that con artists are stealing information from Facebook and Instagram accounts and promoting phony COVID-19 relief grants to their network and Friends list.

“Watch out for Facebook “friends” pushing phony COVID grants”

“You get a Facebook Messenger chat or Instagram direct message that looks like it comes from a friend, relative, community member, or other person you trust. The message is telling you about a grant for COVID-19 relief. Your “friend” may claim to have already applied and received thousands of dollars.

Scammers are either hacking social media accounts or creating separate lookalike profiles by stealing photos and personal information. Either way, these con artists are banking that you will trust a message that appears to come from someone you know. For example, one recent victim was contacted by someone posing as a leader in their church. “This scam was very convincing. [It looked like it came from] someone I know and trust,” they wrote. “Because of COVID-19, I’m laid off, so I would try it. [The scammer] said my name was on a list to receive this grant money. I lost $1,000.00 of my unemployment.”

While many people report being targeted through social media, that’s not the only way scammers are reaching potential victims. Other versions of this scam use phone calls and text messages.

No matter how you hear about a “grant,” there’s a major catch! To get the “grant,” you need to pay upfront first. The scammer will claim the money pays for “delivery” or “processing.” The scammer will take the money, and your grant will never materialize”.

 

Facebook scams damaging wallets and reputations

A former Omaha city councilman is warning of a Facebook scam using his name to coax others into taking bogus grant money.

Per the article above: Facebook scams damaging wallets and reputations;

“Being on Marc’s Facebook friends list, I got a phony message that he received a $150,000 grant and I could get the same.

This is where a hijacked Facebook page reveals a scammer is no friend — by encouraging you to clock on a link that instead of getting you free money, grants access to your personal information.

The Better Business Bureau warns a link click can allow scammers into your financial life.

“It can take you off the platform to a site in which malware can be downloaded onto your desktop, which more lucrative accounts from a scammer’s perspective can be infiltrated,” said Josh Planos of the BBB”.

 

The $150K scam I encountered may be a variation of one of the above scams –

 

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