Scammers use Facebook to find and trick victims
Social media tools like Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., and the Facebook-owned Instagram are great for connecting with friends or meeting new people, but they are also a breeding ground for online scams.
Scams are nothing new to the internet or even to the world of communications in general. There have always been pop-up ads to questionable sites, people posing as banks on the phone as they try to get your PIN, and even “you might already be a winner” envelopes in the mail.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine issued a warning this week that people across the state of Ohio have recently been the victims of “too good to be true” scams through social networks like Facebook.
Scams can be found anywhere, and social media is no exception. The same rules that apply to other scams apply here – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and if a stranger asks you to wire money, beware as it’s likely a scam.
Many online scams involve “cash flipping,” where the victim is asked for a small amount of money, and they are promised a greater amount in return later. Once the money is sent, however, the scammer is never heard from again.
DeWine noted that the danger with scams on social media is the amount of information available to the scammers. They can learn personal information about their victims such as their interests, where they work, their vacation plans, and so on.
Recently Ohio and other areas of the Midwest have seen a number of “sweetheart scams,” which involve the scammer developing a romantic relationship over the web with the victim, then asking for money to be wired to cover an expense such as a plane ticket to visit them. The average amount of money lost to these scams is estimated at $26,000 per victim.
In a recent press release addressing the scams, DeWine explained that once the money is wired, it is often all but impossible to recover.
DeWine offered a few tips to avoid online scams, such as thoroughly researching anyone met online and being extremely wary of requests for money sent by wire or prepaid cards.
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