After a short while you’ll be approached to pay a small fee, such as $1,200, to release the funds into your account. Such a fraudulent exchange – had it gone further – would send you to a phony website to type in your personal information, and you’d be contacted shortly thereafter with the good news: You’ve been approved for a $80,000 grant (the exact amount varies between reports). How to get a better night's sleep?: Keep your tech out of the bedroomīefore Nintendo and Atari: How a black engineer changed the video game industry forever Sniffing out Facebook fraudsters I blocked the person and reported the incident to Facebook, and I sent a note to my friend to let him know his account was comprised and cloned by a cybercriminal. Let me send you a link about it.”Īt this point, I knew this was a scam. Did you hear about the money I received from the International Financial Corporation Grant?”Īs this was the first time I received such a message, my response was sincere: “Wow, that’s great, congrats!” I figured it was something tied to my friend’s work, as he’s an educator who publishes reports on teaching techniques for those who have special needs.īut my “Spidey sense” started tingling with what came next: “You should apply, too, as they’re granting a lot of money before the end of their fiscal year end, coming up. You?” I replied, while sipping a coffee at a local café. Here's a likely scenario from a recent real-life case: A note arrives over Facebook Messenger that appears to be from a friend – right down to their name and photo – so you have no reason to question otherwise, at least at first. Facebook Messenger is a great way to keep up with friends and family, but it can also be a method for scammers to defraud you, so be aware.
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