UPDATE… click to read new development
A “FAKE me” conned my friends with a Facebook scam
I’m not kidding. Really me. And I’m a professional. You’d think I would have known better. I had not kept up with the privacy setting on my own personal Facebook page and a Facebook scam crook took advantage of my account. Lucky for me that my friend are very smart.
[sociable icon=”facebook”][box background=”#cccccc”]
Joel Lukacher EVERYONE…change your privacy settings to all your friends identities to kept them private. Mine was set to public. That’s how the hacker found you as my friend. DO IT NOW![/box]
[box background=”#fbffba”]It is embarrassing and a hassle to deal with all your pissed off friends after you are impersonated in a Facebook scam. Don’t let your Facebook Friends get scammed by a hacker impersonating as you. You can prevent this from happening.[/box]
Read the whole story to learn how to easily protect yourself and your friends.
It started about 7:00 PM on a Monday night. My daughter was first to notice that I suddenly had 2 Facebook accounts. The bogus account already scammed 13 of my friends into “Friending” the fake page of my impersonator. I immediately reported the abusive fake Facebook scam page of me to Facebook. By 7:20 PM, I was getting messages and phone calls from a dozen or so of my friends. They wanted to tell me of the weird and unusual messages “…I had just sent them.” What an embarrassment and hassle! It really killed my evening.
First off, let me say there is no Facebook department of compensation!
The latest Facebook scam:
- A crook is capturing your list of friends.
- Then they copy your profile and cover image.
- With this they make a new Facebook page that looks like yours.
- Now the crook messages all your friends and asks them to like their fake Facebook page of yours.
- Once a victim likes the fake page they begin a conversation to con your friends with their Facebook scam of easy money.
They message begin with:
- A question about your family (of which they have no idea).
- Then the crook tells you that he’s so happy with the money he getting from the Facebook Dept of Compensation (that does not exist.)
- The crook works to get you to click on a link.
The following is the real dialog from one of my friends (the crook misspelled my name; so many typos):
Joel Lulacher: Hello how’re you doing and how’s family there, Hope everything is at your end?
Michael: Doing great out on vacation with the family in Cape Hateras.. I hope you are well.
Joel Lulacher: Am doing pretty good and extremely happy for my life Cuz facebook department of compensation has really change my life for Good.i’ve got a pleasant and awesome news to share with you.Guess what?
Michael: What?
Joel Lulacher: I was just wondering if you heard about the program that was imposed and authorized by Facebook (CEO MARK ZUCKERBEG),in regards for humanity support,poverty eradication and Support Facebook User’s..have you?
Michael: Imposed and authorized sounds pretty ominous. Can’t say I read anything about it.
Joel Lulacher: Oh i thought you’ll have heard about it. They are helping and supporting the above age range of 18-79years with free bonus money. Well, I am so excited because i am one of the lucky winner to win a sum of $150,000.00 cash from Facebook department of compensation. Have you gotten yours Yet?
Michael: No, this sound like one of those scams.
Joel Lulacher: I want you to know that this is real and legit and also covered by the government
Joel Lulacher: I’m very serious and am not pulling your legs.
Joel Lulacher: Now this really has no reality to it. Covered by the government is purely a fictional concept.
Michael: You are not who you picture yourself as.
Joel Lulacher: That is what they told me and i got my winnings delivered to me in real at my doorstep and i want you to know that i didnt believe it until i got it delivered to me
Joel Lulacher: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008279085300 {see image of FAKE profile below} just click on the link and send him a friend request Let me know when you’ve done that
Michael is a smart guy. He recognized from the start this was not really me, but an imposter trying to rip him off! Thanks Mike for the transcript.
What should you do if you get… a Facebook message to friend someone you already have as a friend?
Here’s how… Block the crook and report them as abuse.
- Click the 3-dots to the right of the title Message inside of the cover photo at the top right of the page.
- Click the work Report/Block…
- Click the radio button to the left of Submit a Report, and Report XXX account ,and then Confirm Button.
- Then complete the abuse report.
MORE CONVERSATIONS:
Bruce: Joel I think you have been spammed. Check your Facebook account for a duplicate name of yourself.
Me: Yes. I just found it too. Someone has created a fake account in my name. my account has a middle initial “M” now. Beware of imposters!
Bruce: I started chatting with guy and then he kept asking me about if I wanted to know how he was making money from Facebook Dept of Compensation. I told him we can meet for lunch. He didn’t reply. I then figured out it wasn’t you so I blocked the name. I usually don’t fall for spam but it has been a long day. I didn’t give him any personal info.
Me: Unbelievable!!!
Bruce: Makes you wonder how he got your info.
Me: He copied my real profile & cover photos and made a similar page.
Bruce: That’s what I thought. Oh well…
PREVENTION
How to make your friends list private in 4-easy steps: By default your list of friends are public – for all the world to see.
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UPDATE
The spammer is now sending TEXT MESSAGE spam to friends phones. See the transcript of 13 messages sent to me. The 13 parts were sent out of order, and missing some parts. Notice all the typos:
(part 1/13) My name is David.s.Anderson I work for the Department of Compensation and Urban
(part 2/13) united nations in conjunction with federal government. Let me start by explaining in full details on how to get the grants and what Development (CUD). This progrmmed was introduce by (part 3/13)MISSING
(part 4/13) entitled for to help yourself make it through tough economic conditions. You can use government grant money to pay your (part 5/13) bills,college, school, medical expenses, business, business costs, or even personal use.
?Back in 2009, the government made (part 6/13)MISSING (part 7/13) funding programs: There is absolutely no limit as to the number of grants you can apply for. The truth is, many people aren’t even (part 8/13) aware that government grants exist
! The government does not knock on your door to offer you free money
? No credit checks required
?
(part 9/13) No need for co-signers
? You may be eligible even with bad credit or bankruptcy
? You never have to pay back government grants
?We (part 10/13) Are United Power To Success and Focus Facebook User’s, Supported and Approved By United State Of America Government. Congratulation!, (part 11/13)MISSING (part 12/13) claim. Kindly let me know once you’re ready to claim your Winning Money. Await your quick response.
Best
(part 13/13) Reagards,
David.S.Anderson
Agent.
Remember David Anderson’s FAKE Facebook page above? Check a person’s Facebook profile page before you Friend them. As I said previously… Don’t friend FAKERS!
How do I ‘Unfriend’ them?
I just got scammed this morning by a request from a friend that I don’t think was in my profile before, but didn’t think to check. “She” dialogued with me a bit about the money she was getting, then gave me the text msg phone number and told me to msg them. I asked her if I could call her to talk about this and she said, “just do it now and be happy”. I knew then it was a scam and checked the Internet.
How do you know she is “a friend?” If she isn’t on your “Friend” list she’s trying to fool you. If she is on your list then simply unfriend her. Best advise is if you think your account has been hacked, change your password ASAP!
Its still happening this time they claim to be the poverty alleviation program. .they said i won 50000 but i had to pay ups 290.00 for insurance. So i can get my money in 5 hrs…here is the number they text me 919 891 3805..i told them i was contacting the attorney general’s office.
I bet the email came from Nigeria too. It’s the scam capital of the world!
I just experienced the same message. Wanting me to pay $600 for the same $50,000 . Supposedly Poverty Alleviation Program. Reported it.
Thant’s a old and common scam.
what should I do if I gave out my information like my address full name city birth date moms name zip code all that.
I’d consider subscribing to an identity theft protection program ASAP!
I just got scammed. They hacked my sisters face book account. I thought I was talking to her the whole time. They feed my information that I had won money from the United National Funding Program, $120,000. They gave me a persons name to add as a friend to transfer money to. Before I caught on I had sent $1800. They are still contacting me to get more. But I told them I don’t have anymore they just have to keep the money. They said they would wait for the $4000 then they would deliver the money to my door. What do I do now. I have the names of the people I sent the money to.
Another scam say United Nations grant incentive wanting $800 delivery fee
I have been receiving the same scam. Saying I have to pay 500.00 to receive 20,000 at my door step the next day. I actually thought this was my friend saying he got his 50,000 and paid 1,000 to ups.
Help! I was following steps to report but saw no “radio button” to complete step3! No report account came up! What now? Please! This is first request! Say, what!
Sorry but I don’t understand what “radio button” you are referring to.
I believe I also have been scammed. My winnings were 150,000 and I would have to pay $2350 in taxes and delivery fees before they would bring money to my “doorstep”. The name of the company was United Nation(not nations) Company Claimed. They provided me with a winning amount, Ref #, batch number and powerball tracking number. Said the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg randoming selected my profile as a promotion to benefit from the company’s gain.
Did it come from Nicaragua too? I get this form of email scam several times a month. I can’t believe people still fall for this crime!
They are going by Timothy Martin now.
i too was scamed thought it was a friends messanger said to contact Agent John Waney from workers comp appeals board.said i won 50,000 needed to pay 2000 then 7200 in taxes he even called me ,sounded like a middle eastener.I know ive lost my money.i still text him for a refund just to mess with him.
I was just scammed by someone on my facebook list. When i asked them who they were they blocked me
I got this two. I have two different messenger profiles for my friend. If I block one will it block both?
We got a report about face-book scam….and we have being investigating on it….. this is an Agent from attorney general’s office………text us on our customer care(725) 696-5572 for more complains and your details,and a legit report Thank you…
This is currently happening to me. I made may 5 posts all year and the one where I’ve about hit rock bottom, someone sees I’m desperate and I almost fell for it
Marty Bridges, Jax FL
Thanks for this info. I just dealt with the IMF scam. What a bunch of bogus BS. Was going to follow through on report, but the person is now gone from FB and messenger
Agent Mark Lucky hacked my Facebook account, sending messages to my friends with my name & picture.. Please block him from using my name & picture. He is a scammer asking for money. Thank you. I have changed my password.
This just happened to me and I got the info threw a family member and they sent me a photo showing the pack of money.
They want me to pay $600 for $150.0000 .
Im confused nothing comes easy in life and Im on disability so they said send $400 pay $200 when you get your money