Do you use Facebook to talk to your family members? Are you sure it really is your sister that you are chatting with? You could be speaking with a scammer, who has hacked your sister’s account, and is now impersonating her. Beware if a relative on Facebook asks you for money!
Facebook is an excellent resource for genealogists. It is a social networking system that has been made extremely easy to use. This makes people who are not computer savvy a bit more comfortable with the idea of going online. Genealogists who live far away from some of the members of their family can still keep in touch with living family members through Facebook.
It works in a viral manner. You join Facebook. You send a friend request to your sister, brother, and maybe a few cousins. They accept.
Soon, relatives that were already connected to your sibling or cousin will start sending friend requests to you, so that they can send you messages and talk to you through the Facebook chat system. I have lost count of how many relatives I am currently connected to on Facebook. One can think of this phenomena as a new type of family reunion.
We all know that it can be dangerous to go online and share personal information with complete strangers. Talking to family members, though, is usually considered to be a safe online activity. People post photos of their babies on Facebook, specifically so other family members can see the photos, and leave comments. When that little chat box pops up with a greeting from your sister, you know that she is safe to talk to.
The worst thing that can happen as a result of talking to your relatives on Facebook is some unwanted “drama”, right? Not anymore! There are some scammers that are interested in taking advantage of the family dynamic that Facebook provides.
A woman named Edythe Schumacher logged into Facebook. Her sister, Susan, started a chat with Edythe. The conversation lead to the discussion of an online government grant that Susan has applied for, and received. Susan said that if Edythe sent her $2,000, she could get her Edythe access to a grant for $500,000. Edythe trusted her sister, so she wired $2,000 to an address in Massachusetts.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Edythe hadn’t actually been talking with her sister, Susan, at all. A scammer had hacked Susan’s account. The scammer searched through the list of Susan’s friends in order to locate someone whom Susan was related to. When the scammer contacted Edythe through the chat, the scammer was working hard to appear as though he or she truly was Edythe’s sister Susan.
Beware of relatives on Facebook who ask you for money! It might not really be your sister who is doing the asking. When in doubt, contact your relative by telephone or skype before sending out large sums of money.
Image by Birger Hartung on Flickr