Nasty scam on Facebook

They are currently reappearing in Facebook groups: seriously ill women who will soon die and want nothing more than to give away their fortune to a random Facebook user. This sort of thing happens all the time! Here we have a brand new copy! A comment was left in a group on Facebook here:

Note: Such messages are scams, but can also come via Facebook Messenger!

What happens if such an offer is accepted?

If you accept such an offer by email, you will quickly receive an official document. The appearance of these documents varies greatly, but they always contain one specific point: You should pay!

In order to get the money, you have to contact a supposed lawyer who will send you a pseudo-document. This then states that you have to transfer a certain amount of several hundred euros to an account (usually abroad) as security or administrative costs.

But this is so-called advance fee fraud : after the transfer, you never hear from that lawyer or the seriously ill woman again. The profiles disappear from Facebook again, the email addresses are usually deleted, and the money is gone. But often the fraudsters are a little more curious, as we explain below!

There is advance payment fraud behind it!

As with the romance scam , the woman's story is just an excuse to trigger feelings in the reader and to arrest them emotionally. The aim is to create the impression that the woman actually only has a few weeks left to live. If the victim then accepts the offer of money, the offer turns out to be a demand. Fees would soon become due or other liabilities would arise that the victim would have to shell out in advance. Such messages, as shown above, are 99.9% this type of advance fee fraud. This type of fraud has been around for a very long time. The offers are sent via email or social networks.

The pattern

These messages vary, but are always the same in various ways:

• A mostly very religious person.
• Terminally ill, the tumors vary.
• Only a few days to weeks left to live.
• A large amount is given away.
• Contact only possible via the “lawyer”.

The reaction

If you actually believe that someone simply has such large sums of money to give away, you will be asked for more information about yourself, as we already reported in 2016 :

1. Your Full Name
2. Address and Direct Telephone #
3. Age, Occupation and Marital Status

a copy of your ID in return to begin the transaction in earnest

The fraudsters want your name, address, telephone number, age, employment status, marital status and even a copy of your ID! Needless to say, with this information you can become an excellent victim of further fraud (e.g. single = target for romance scammers ) and you can quickly become a victim of identity theft .

Next, you have to pay a “transaction fee” or something similar to a foreign bank so that the money can be transferred. However, you never get the promised inheritance , because this is the core issue of “advance payment fraud”.

Keyword: Nigeria connection

The Nigeria Connection is not a structured organization, but these are groups of African fraudsters. Some of these fraudsters also live in Europe and others in Nigeria. These internet fraudsters specialize in credit card fraud, document forgery, advance payment fraud and much more. specialized and have been on Facebook with many fake profiles for some time now.

Tips to protect yourself from the Nigeria connection on Facebook

• If you see dubious loan offers or inheritance posts on Facebook, you can be almost certain that fraudsters are behind them.
• You can report suspicious profiles and offers directly to us. To do this, please send an email to [email protected] .
• Never give your personal information to strangers online. It may sound logical, but there are thousands of users who don't think about it.

Related to the topic:
Rip-off on Facebook: “I suffer from throat cancer”

Also read on Facebook: How to avoid fraud on Facebook