Plenty of people who are connected to the internet are catching up with friends on social media or randomly surfing the web.
Unfortunately, so are scammers.
They are taking advantage of social networking sites, earning victims’ trust by pretending to be someone they already know.
There are a variety of ways these scammers have been attempting to get your money, including asking for donations for a charity, or claiming the old account was hacked, when in reality they are the “hacked” account.
If a “friend” ever asks you for money, the best way to ensure they are legitimate is to contact the individual by another means. If you have their phone number, give them a call or text. If you have their email, send them a quick message verifying they are indeed asking for donations.
The scammers are typically able to create the phony account because the privacy settings on the real account are set to public. So, to keep your profile from becoming the template for scammers, be sure to adjust your settings to be as private as possible. Click here for step by step instructions on how to do this.
