Expensive scam on Facebook!

It continues to happen every day and many Facebook users only notice it when it's too late: profile copies! In the end it will be expensive for the circle of friends because they will be ripped off. The original profile, from which fraudsters made a copy, at least suffers reputational damage.

This is obviously an underestimated danger that we have been warning about for several years now. Scammers copy the profiles of real Facebook accounts and rip off their friends. Fatal: most people realize too late that they are communicating with scammers and NOT with their real friends. And again, several scams of this kind have been reported to the police.

The financial damage to the victims is usually around €100 – €200 each. The victims receive advance requests for their cell phone numbers from their supposed Facebook friends. If you agree to this, you will then receive an SMS on your cell phone, which the alleged friend will query.

The following scam is going on in the background: unknown perpetrators hack or imitate a Facebook account from the later victim's friends list. So they contact the gullible victims and ask them for their cell phone number. The mobile phone number is used to purchase services from so-called third-party providers, usually game credit or something similar. Through contact with the victim, the perpetrator then obtains the transaction codes sent via SMS that he needs to unlock the credit.

In this way, the victim also has difficulty demanding a refund because the transaction code was addressed to him personally. So in these cases, pay close attention and consult your friends personally! To avoid such scams, you can also set up a so-called third-party block with your mobile phone provider. This means that third-party companies can no longer charge anything to your cell phone bill.

reported for the first time that internet fraudsters were copying entire Facebook profiles. In other words, they copy the respective profile and cover photo. Armed with these images, they create a new Facebook profile on Facebook with exactly the same name as the one where they first copied the images.

So there are suddenly two profiles that are completely identical.

Once the fraudsters have created the account, they click through the friends list of the original profile and write a personal message to all friends. They are now using this scam to try to get money out of your friends. Not a day goes by without someone being injured again on Facebook! With these 4 steps you too can protect your profile! At this point we would like to show you how you can protect your Facebook profile as best as possible in 4 steps so that it cannot be copied.

1. FIRST LOOK FOR A COPY OF YOUR ACCOUNT

Use Facebook SEARCH and search for your name. Your friends should also support you in the search, because the scammers usually block the ORIGINAL profile and so it may be that your profile exists twice but you cannot find it. If you or one of your friends have discovered a copy, REPORT the copied profile immediately.

2. HIDE YOUR FRIENDS LIST

Once an account has set its friends list to “Only me,” it is no longer of interest to internet fraudsters. To do this, click on “Friends” in your profile (under the cover photo). On the right you will find a “pen”.

Here you can set the settings for your friends list.

3. NEVER POST “PUBLICLY” IF POSSIBLE

EVERYONE doesn't always have to know everything. It's enough if your FRIENDS find out something. You can set the setting for this directly in the status post. This applies to pure text contributions but also photos and videos.

4. PLEASE ALSO MAKE THE FOLLOWING SETTINGS:

Content, contacts and searches

► Who can see your future posts: “Friends” ► Who can send the friend requests: “Everyone” or “Friends of Friends”. Our recommendation: “Friends of friends” ► Whose messages should be filtered in my inbox: “Strict filtering”

Remove check mark

► If you want other search engines to contain a link to your timeline: REMOVE check mark

Limit visibility

► Who can post in your timeline: “Friends” ► Check marked posts first: “Enabled” ► Who can see marked posts: Our recommendation: “Friends” ► Who can see what others post in your timeline: Our recommendation: “Friends ” ► User tagging suggestions: “Enabled” ► Combine your actions with ads: “Nobody”

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