Even if they appear in different masks - they all want the same thing, namely: your money! The fraud can take place stealthily, with the criminal wrapping his victim around his finger with romantic ideas, but also in the guise of a friend, in which his profile has been copied 1:1 and the victim believes that he is the real friend - everything is possible!

Below you will find the most important methods used by scammers to scam Facebook users:

Copied Facebook profiles

With this method, fraudsters search Facebook for existing profiles and create a 1:1 copy of them. This means that these scammers steal/copy a friend's identity and want to be your friend again with the same name and the previously used profile picture and cover photo.

If you accept this friend request because you “know” each other, you will immediately receive a message asking for your mobile phone number. The fraudster uses this to have numerical codes sent to your cell phone. If you give these codes to the fraudster because he also asks for them, you will be ripped off. Because these numerical codes are worth cash! The fraudsters redeem these at payment service providers. The victim then notices this payment on his cell phone bill.

Note:

  • Never pass on payment or confirmation codes sent via SMS! Not even to supposed friends!
  • If you receive another friend request from a friend, be sure to ask this friend whether it was really him!

A new request from the same person will only be considered if the friend has previously been removed from the friends list by him or you. Otherwise you should be suspicious.

The Romance Scam

This English-language term describes another form of internet fraud. Fake profiles are also used here. But here we get friend requests from extremely attractive women or men.

The aim is to create a deep bond with the victim by befriending them, flirting, flirting and finally using a pretext to obtain financial benefits.

Romance scams are widespread in English-speaking countries; there are even forums that warn against such scammers and publish the mostly misused photos of these alleged lovers.

Nigeria Connection is regularly mentioned in connection with romance scams , including in the Facebook post above.

But how do these two terms fit together?

The “Nigeria Connection”

The Nigeria Connection is not a structured organization, but rather various groups of African fraudsters. Some of these fraudsters live in Europe and others in Nigeria.

These internet fraudsters specialize in credit card fraud, document forgery and much more. on Facebook with many fake profiles for some time .

They contact unsuspecting Facebook users, gain their trust and after a while pretend to be in financial distress.

The main target group of such fraudsters is subject to a very specific prey scheme:

  • Female
  • Fairly intelligent (must have at least a good command of English)
  • Single
  • Middle-aged (very young women do not yet have financial resources)

A clearly recognizable, smiling face must be visible in the profile photo of the selected victim, because the fraudsters refer to this in their first contact attempts.

What are the characteristics of such fraudsters?

Unfortunately, a completely precise description is not possible because these criminals are extremely creative and of course adapt to the circumstances.

However, there are some basic criteria that you can pay attention to in order to protect yourself:

  • Age-appropriate to the victim
  • Ostensible professional activity is more in middle management
  • Apparently divorced, but much more often widowed, having to look after school-age children alone
  • Not particularly informative in the Facebook profile and no visible postings
  • Feigned empathy

And this is how they do it:

  • Initial contact via message. All communication is in English.
  • Profile picture: not unattractive appearance, but not an “Adonis” either
  • Report-like CV, e.g. B. “My parents died in an accident, my wife died giving birth to our child.”
  • Questioning the targeted victim (= looking for weaknesses)
  • Vows of love that no real man would say soberly.
  • A sudden event occurs, e.g. B. “Pirates are coming” (= most bizarre version). However, the story is often still coherent as a reason for the resulting emergency.
  • Request for a financial loan (amount in the four-digit euro range) using massive, emotional pressure and presenting so-called “evidence” as a file
  • After receiving the money – money gone and of course an unknown admirer too.

How can I protect myself from such scams?

The following tips can be helpful:

  • As a general rule, do not give out more data online than necessary.
  • Use different passwords for different accounts (email, Facebook, Amazon, eBay…)
  • Block your profiles from strangers as much as possible. Only your friends should be able to see your private pictures, friends list, personal information, and recent posts.
  • Have your friends and acquaintances occasionally check social networks to see if your profile exists again. Scammers can make the fake profile invisible (block) to the original profile so that you have no way of finding it.
  • Check whether setting up a third-party blocking service is possible/useful with your telephone provider.
  • As a parent, check your children's online activities regularly. Educate them about these and other scams.

If you have become a victim of fraud, inform the police immediately! You can also report manipulated or copied profiles on Facebook as fake profiles!


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