A week or so ago, I received another friend request from Chester, a person who has been a friend for the last several years. He runs the local SDA foodbank ministry here, which I had volunteered for several years ago to help out once a week. I assumed that he had updated his Facebook page, and added the new one onto my list of friends. Today, I got a message from Chester, saying that he was going to start a grocery business with his NEH money, and would tell me more about it. I had never heard of NEH, but thought he must have sold the property where he has his food ministry, although Chester is in his late 70's and I couldn't imagine why he would want to start up a grocery store. I asked if he had sold the ministry property, and he said no, that he was starting the busines with his NEH money; so this time I asked him what that was. He explained that it was a free grant money that they hand out to people, and he asked me if I had received mine yet. I said that I didn't think there was any reason I would be getting any kind of grant money (since I don't have a ministry, or even a business of any kind). He then replied that he had seen my name on their list when he was signing for his money, and that I should call them right away to make sure that they were sending me my money. He gave me a phone number, and said call right quick. By then , I was very suspicious, so I searched for the phone number, which came back as a number that other people had been called for a similar scam. The phone number (865) 248-6343, If you check it , shows that people had been told the same basic story, and told to send $250 so they could get their free money from NEH. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is actually a legitimate company, and they do give out grants; so if a person just checked out the company, you might think it was valid , especially since the person who told you about it is someone who was on your friend list on Facebook. Naturally, I messaged my friend , Chester, using his original Facebook page, and he had never heard of NEH either, had not messaged me, and had no idea that someone was using his name and information on a fake FB page. I imagine that if they contacted me, they also probably added more of his friends and contacted them as well. I just emailed the NEH webpage, gave them the fake phone number and told them the story of what happened, too. So, if you get a similar Facebook friend message, be aware this is a scam ! !
I'm not a member of Facebook ,But it's still good to be aware of yet another SCAM ..as I'd imagine they would try their scam by other means as well as Facebook ..I live n Australia @Yvonne Smith and I get emails from oblivious scammers ,claiming to be from PayPal ,bank , and the list go's on ....I even received one the other day claiming they were from Apple ( I have a iPad ) they wanted me to update my account ..yeah sure I might be old but I'm not silly " Yet" I did report it to apple who confirmed it was a attempted scam ..
Not a FB fan, but this is no different from email scams and other scams. Send money to receive money is a scam for sure. I'd delete and block and not waste anymore time on it.
Wife and I get scams in e-mail. Some are about how $1 million dollars (or more) is waiting for us, with info on how to obtain it by giving personal info.. She got one of these yesterday. Some, believe it or not, are about (whomever) looking for sex. First time my wife got one of these, she was shocked. All of these show up in our Junk Mail and, after reading the title, simply delete all of them. I will tell my wife, "can't fool this kid!"
Thanks Yvonne, I hadn't heard of this, but sometimes I get "friend" requests from folks I haven't got a clue who they are. They could message me and tell me, but I think they might be scammers if they don't tell me why they want to hook up. Thanks again, and thank goodness you figured it out. Some of these creeps are real pros.
Love your avatar Kate Yes, scammers follow the technology, and grow as it grows. No getting rid of them all, but I always love hearing about one getting caught We have some pretty good "internet police" as well, that catch many scammers, yeehaw!!
Just last week a celebrity from Hawaii Jake Shimabukuro who is a ukulele artist who has concerts all over the world said on the local news that at facebook he isn't asking for money, it isn't him. My gosh that's so brazen and terrible that people like your friend and celebrities are being victimized of id theft, whether it's a page at facebook or a credit card account that someone opened up in your name, it's identity theft. It's a good idea to protect yourself from these sorts by working with facebook security, ic3.gov reporting it will stop the scammers who you just don't know what else they are up to and be protected from any legalities that may arise from being victimized of id theft. I had been getting strange requests at facebook and I told the people I'm a victim of id theft, which I am, and they understood that I didn't send them any kind of communication, but the communication said it was me. Worked together with facebook security when I found out that my facebook acct. was being accessed by 6 different States too, so that many people was trying to use my facebook acct. Resources for help when victilmized of your identity: *http://www.idtheftcenter.org/Articles/Scams/ *https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft *Report an impostor account at facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/169486816475808 Fake facebook page of Jake Shimabukuro site article link.
It seems they've stepped the inheritance scam up a notch or two, using your friend who probably has a good reputation, and I'm sure some have fallen for that, @Yvonne Smith. I tend to get the requests to add new friends who all seem to be attractive middle-aged males serving in the military who are overseas (usually Africa), with new accounts, and only 1-4 pictures. The pictures are of them in uniform, of course, as well as pictures of them with a child and/or cute animal. I guess there are a lot of people who would automatically click to add them because of the uniform/kid/animal, but I watch way too much Discovery ID to fall for that scam .
How mature men and women fall for some of the " love" scams I'll never understand ,it would be different if they were young, but I can't understand these mature adults handing over $$$$ and accepting all the lies time after time about missing flights ,been injured in an accident I'd be heading for the hills as soon as I was asked for money. Sure I met some undesirables ,when I was single for 12 years ,who didn't have the Internet dating options available back then ( I've been remarried almost 30 years)
Thanks for the warning, @Yvonne Smith, there are so many scams in the social media and even in emails. That's why there is a warning that is circulating about a duplicate account. For example, your Facebook account is under your name and then there is another account of the same name sending me a friend request. That second account, according to the warning, may be a bogus account that would be used by scammers for their racket. The rule of thumb is... when it is good to be true then it is not true. Another food for thought is when the email of message is about money, whether advantageous or disadvantageous to you, check it out very well.
Got a fraud alert message Thursday afternoon regarding someone trying to use my credit card to try to make a purchase. I knew something was wrong, there are no other authorized users, I hadn't used the card in two weeks AND I had the card in my wallet so.it hadn't been stolen. Called the cc company security. They locked the account and rattled off several purchases made that day (assured me I was NOT liable). Told me to cut up the card, and I got a new card via express FedEx today. New account number and verified my balance. I can't figure out what happened - maybe something was hacked or maybe there was a skimmer apparatus on a machine at a store. I know there are criminal rings who do this. Took me a little time this morning but everything is straightened out. Really honks me off.
Credit card companies are usually great with this. I was notified my card was shut down due to some suspicious activity related to my Paypal account. The credit card company was right on it and issued me a new card. They seem to know if activity is legit or not. I have used my credit card to purchase from a foreign country and a legitimate retailer with no problem. After thas shut down though I did get a second major credit card. Because I thought what if this had happened and I was about to leave on a trip or something, I could have been caught without a card. (not that I go anywhere unfortunately) I don't use my cards often.
@Kitty Carmel yeah I have a second cc that I only use enough to keep it active. I saw a program or maybe it was something on the news that told how sophisticated criminals can make fake IDs, passports, and credit cards in the blink of an eye. Scarey.
That also happened to me once. There was an attempt to use my credit card but since the purchase is more than 20,000 pesos, the card company sends an alert on the phone so I can reply in case I was not the one who used it. Naturally, I texted back to say that I didn't make that purchase. The procedure was for the card to inform the store so the scammer could be arrested. Well, maybe the scammer sensed something wrong with the delay of the printing of the receipt so he left. My card was automatically blocked and I had to wait for the replacement. I wonder how they do that, making a duplicate of my credit card. They say that there is a process called skimming where scammers can copy the information in your credit card. When you use your card and it is swiped, the scammer have a special swiper that steals your information. They then copy the information into a blank credit card and presto, it is like having a duplicate of your card. And so as not to be skimmed, do not use your card in small stores. Come to think of it, I never use my card in small stores. Hmm, I wonder.
Sometimes it's an inside job; a store employee or even a cc company employee working in cahoots with criminals. Yikes.