Beware of a new Facebook scam
By Marsha
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
Midland, Michigan
June 12, 2021 8:07pm CST
First they take over the persona of someone you know and ask to be your friend. I agreed without thinking because the person isn't someone I talk to on Facebook. But when I looked later I discovered I was already her friend. And that my actual friend had over four hundred friends where's this new person only had twenty seven. That should have been my first flag had I thought to look.
Supposedly, it's free money from a compensation government office up for grabs. There were a few red flags that I didn't get at first. The most obvious one was that this person saw my name on the list of beneficiaries and wondered if I'd gotten my payment yet.
I thought that was a bit bizarre and not practicing privacy laws to let others see the names on the list.
One reason I think I missed the scam here was because when I was doing my taxes I found out from my accountant that the government was helping out businesses you just had to show your numbers to your bank to qualify which I decided not to do at that time even though that time it was legit.
My daughter came over to do laundry and recognized the scam for what it was. We reported the scam account to Facebook and I deleted the conversation.
18 people like this
19 responses
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
13 Jun 21
Even being on Facebook is risky, giving any sort of personal information gets us in trouble.
4 people like this
@betlynfrnds (4071)
• United States
13 Jun 21
That's why I don't do FB at all. It seems more and more that a simple connection with a friend or relative can snowball into a big problem. It usually starts out as an innocent conversation. 
3 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
@betlynfrnds especially if an imposter sneaks in with us being unaware.
2 people like this
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
13 Jun 21
@betlynfrnds Yes, Jay was visiting on FB and got a virus!
3 people like this
@kaylachan (84703)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
13 Jun 21
That's not a new scam. It's been ciirulating around the web for a while. I always check out a person's profile theroly before I accept. If the person has a name of someone I know, I'll go directly to that person. Typically, those accounts, will be brand new, or have next to no info on them (save for their following/friends) and I'll delete the request.
I got a few people who would DM me directly, and try the same line. and it didn't take me long to figure it out. I knew the govornment had been trying to help people and businesses. But, they typically wouldn't use social media to do it.
3 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
As I said there were several flags I missed. I usually catch the new friend one faster than I did today.
3 people like this
@kaylachan (84703)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
13 Jun 21
@MarshaMusselman You caught it before you were taken for a ride.
3 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
@kaylachan thank goodness for that.
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (502204)
• Italy
21 Jun 21
@MarshaMusselman I almost never to there. I used to play some games, but they are a waste of time.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
19 Jun 21
I've done that before just forgot that day as it caught me by surprise.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
21 Jun 21
@LadyDuck I barely go there these days. I rarely go to see photos of my grandbaby either. I do okay a few Facebook games though but have posted that down to two.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (13017)
• United States
13 Jun 21
I make my friends list private to both my friends and the public. Sometimes I receive friend request and they usually get it from seeing comments my real friend has done and I respond to. I always check my friends list and let them know if someone is impersonating them and then report. There are so many scams out there. Many years ago, FB used to make anyone first joining verify their identity and if you tried ot do a second page, they wouldn't allow it without verification and delete the old. Security has become extremely lax.
2 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
I might have to switch mine too private just to save myself some grief later on.
2 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
14 Jun 21
@noni1959 I barely go on fb to see the pics posted by my kids. I don't look for news items at all.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (13017)
• United States
14 Jun 21
@MarshaMusselman I keep mine private but when I comment on a news page or something like that, others see me. They can't comment on my own page but never fails, a scammer will try to ask me to friend him or something.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
That's good you did that. I no longer follow certain people that shared many links since it's hard to know which are legit beforehand.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
15 Jun 21
@ladyhero mostly I don't do much with social media. In fact I had a red flag that she would even contact me that early in the morning because we've never conversed there before. Sometimes, though, I seen to be oblivious.
1 person likes this
@ladyhero (3846)
• Indonesia
13 Jun 21
@MarshaMusselman and don't forget to remain anonymous when filling in data on social media, so that it is not misused by scammers
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (169439)
• United States
13 Jun 21
Glad you had someone to wake you up to the scam.
2 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
So am I. God keeps providing me with someone at the right time. The last one was over ten years ago and not related to the internet at least directly.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
19 Jun 21
Make some money some way I'm guessing or put a virus on my computer.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
13 Jun 21
Most scams seem to repost around the internet. I've just missed this one before now.
2 people like this
@LeaPea2417 (40020)
• Toccoa, Georgia
13 Jun 21
I get those invites from friends and I know it looks shady because the fake account always has hardly any friends. I always delete those things.
2 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
19 Jun 21
I forgot to check out the profile or I would have know right away.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
19 Jun 21
@LeaPea2417 probably a friend's of his recognized the duplicate account and reported it or something.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
19 Jun 21
I don't check it out much myself. I will usually look at their profile first but didn't think about it that particular day
1 person likes this
@popciclecold (40215)
• United States
14 Jun 21
Good Job, so many scams..am glad you saw red flags.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
17 Jun 21
Saw them but didn't treat them as such until my daughter steered me in the right direction.
@betlynfrnds (4071)
• United States
13 Jun 21
Red flags abound when it comes to social media and conversations either directly or indirectly about money. It's bad news all around.
I'm very glad that you reported it and deleted the post.
2 people like this
@sjvg1976 (42727)
• Delhi, India
13 Jun 21
Facebook is the place where people find new ways to loot people. I remember few days back my friend was asking for money from me and when I talked to him over he said he never asked money on the Facebook. Later on we found that this was a fake id. After then lots of people started doing it and might have trapped many people.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Jun 21
I don't think a week goes by that I don't get a friend request on Facebook from someone I am already friends with. I always check before accepting any new friend requests, and even then I am still reluctant to accept. These scammers will stop at nothing to trick us.
2 people like this
@JESSY3236 (22215)
• United States
20 Jul 21
I had scam once thinking it was a bookstore facebook account, but it was scam about getting "free" books. I didn't fall for it and unfriended the person. Now I wary of friending anyone.
