A MAN has warned of a nasty Facebook Messenger scam that attempts to fleece users of their cash.
TikTok star @marthreenez1 recently shared screengrabs of a conversation on the platform between himself and a fraudster.
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He says the profile of a Facebook friend called Tiffany was taken over by hackers who then sent him a message posing as his pal.
This is a common tactic used by crooks to earn your trust. They hack profiles using username and password combinations leaked online.
The crook offered to send marthreenez1 some money through the popular mobile payment service “Cash App”.
“This scammer hacked this girl’s profile and messaged me ‘what’s your cash app tag’,” he says in the March 3 video.
Suspecting a scammer to be behind the messages, the TikTok star gave them a fake Cash App tag for a transfer.
The scammer then told him that he had to pay a “clearance fee” before getting his funds.
Those fees ranged from $100 to receive a $1,200 payout all the way to a $1,000 charge for a return of $10,800.
“It’s very real and legit,” the fraudster wrote.
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They then sent what appear to be doctored screenshots of other people receiving cash from the hacked account.
Of course, the scammers were just trying to trick the TikToker into sending them cash and would have sent nothing the other way.
Fortunately, he did not fall for their ploy and did not send them any money.
Scam message attacks are carried out by cyber gangs through unsolicited messages sent to thousands of people every day.
The techniques that they employ change all of the time but generally involve using social engineering to trick victims.
Recently, crooks have begun posing as family members who they falsely claim need money to get out of a sticky situation.
If you receive what you believe is a scam message, do not reply to the sender.
You can report a suspected scam by tapping and holding a message and hitting “Report” in the drop-down menu.
If you think you’ve fallen victim to a scam, you should contact your bank immediately to stop any outgoing payments.
You should also get your bank to look into a possible refund.
If you’ve handed over a password for an online account, phone up the organisation and get the account locked down. You may be able to get it reinstated at a later date.
In the UK, you can report a suspected scam email to the National Cyber Security Centre.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
