That’s how dangerous the double friend request is!
According to the Rotenburg police , a previously unknown Internet perpetrator obtained the money of a 51-year-old woman from Samtgemeinte Bothel with the help of a hacked Facebook account.
The woman had been contacted twice via Facebook Messenger by a supposed friend and asked to enter payment codes. She complied with the request without suspicion. It later emerged that the 51-year-old had fallen victim to a fraudster who had apparently taken advantage of her friend's account.
As it turned out, the codes entered were used to make payments for online transactions.
Copied profiles
We at mimikama have been warning about this nasty scam for years. Here we explain how this scam works in detail:
A fraudster creates a new Facebook identity as a copy of a name of the same name with the profile picture + cover photo previously used there.
The internet fraudster then visits the original profile and searches through the victim's entire friends list, and the friends then apparently receive another friend request. A majority of users accept these requests because they “know” each other.
If you confirm this request, the apparently old (but new) friend immediately asks for your own mobile phone number and the numerical codes via a personal message, which are received immediately after revealing the mobile phone number. Absolute caution is required. These small and inconspicuous numerical codes are worth money!
By passing on the numerical codes, the fraudsters are able to redeem them at payment service providers and thereby charge the victim's cell phone bill. However, simply passing on your cell phone number does not result in a charge to your own cell phone bill.
In general, it is important never to pass on payment or confirmation codes sent via SMS to supposed friends - be it via messenger or social networks.
Ask
However, it is best if you simply ask the sender personally after receiving a new friend request or check the friend list to see whether the friend already appears there. This is still the best way to clarify whether it is really a personal acquaintance or a hoax by fraudsters.
A new request from the same person will only be considered if the friend has previously been independently removed from the friends list. Otherwise you should be suspicious.
I was ripped off. What can I do?
We recommend that you file a report with the relevant state criminal police office. In view of the increasing number of internet crimes, special units have been set up here. The so-called Cyber Crime Competence Center works in a technically highly professional and networked manner.
Officials are well aware of the Facebook scam with fake profiles. Some organized gangs have already been stopped - including in the area of Facebook profile copies.
To do this, the officials are of course dependent on reports and therefore the help of those affected. According to the LKA Saxony, the number of unreported cases of such fraud is still very, very high.
Support consumer advice centers!
Those affected and those seeking advice can also seek advice from one of the 16 consumer advice centers.
In addition to personal consultations, which can be arranged for Saxony by calling the Saxony-wide appointment telephone number 0341-6962929, email advice is also possible on the Saxony Consumer Center website.
Telephone advice is also guaranteed. All information about this can be found on our website: https://www.verbraucherzentrale-sachsen.de/telefonberatung
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

