Serious Facebook Scam

Australian website Ninemsn.com.au reports that hackers are hijacking profiles of Facebook users to extort money from their friends. Ninemsn claims to have spoken to four Facebook users with hacked accounts. Each time, person's user name, password, alternative email address and other details were changed. The hackers stole the user's identity and contacted people close to them, claiming to be stuck in London after being mugged.

At least one person fell for the scam and sent cash to the hackers via a Western Union.

Sydney music journalist Michaella Solar-March is quoted as saying,"Two days before I was leaving for an overseas holiday hackers broke into my Facebook account and started contacting people in my friends list, claiming I was stuck in London after being mugged and asking for money."

"Some acquaintances of mine came close to sending cash, as they knew I was going overseas but weren't certain of my exact leaving dates, but luckily thought it best to call my close friends and check where I was before sending it."

The hackers contacted most people on Ms Solar-March's friend list — nearly 800 in total.
Digital strategy consultant Mark Neely's account was also compromised. "It's very stressful, receiving phone calls from people you may not have contacted for a long time who are worried about your safety," he said.

Rhiannon Elston is a producer for ninemsn and called the experience "horrifying".She found out that her account had aso been compromised."They were very active on the site … at a guess they would have contacted 50 or more of my contacts," Ms Elston said.

"I've been getting calls from Poland, from Sri Lanka, from England.

"It was really horrifying that someone was actually posing as me and using my identity to extort from my friends."

A similar article recently appeared in the Daily Telegraph and it would appear that Facebook is becoming a favourite of scammers.

Source articles Ninemsn and Daily Telegraph