Be careful chatting on Facebook
I had a chat with a friend of mine on Facebook this morning. Well, until I realized I was chatting with a hacker who had hijacked her account.
So I decided to have a little fun.
Some words of advice to avoid online fraud and phishing:
- Use a secure password for Facebook and other social media sites. Change them regularly.
- If someone contacts you through Facebook chat and asks for something, be very suspicious.
- Contact them through an alternate channel (phone, e-mail) to verify.
- Have them change their password and alert Facebook’s customer service.
See below for the full transcript.
(I set up Facebook chat through iChat for convenience.)
Update: TechCrunch posted on this particular scam more than a year ago.
Jabber IM with <“Friend”>
3/10/10 9:30 AM
“Friend”: hello
“Friend”: how you doing ??
Wade: good morning. I’m doing fine. How about you, [Friend]?
“Friend”: am not too good
“Friend”: am in kind of terrible shit at the moment
Wade: Sorry to hear that. What’s going on?
“Friend”: am stuck in london
“Friend”: I had to visit a resort on short vac but got mugged at a gun point
Wade: Oh my.
Wade: I assume your papers were stolen.
“Friend”: All cash cc and my wallet were stolen off me by the muggers
“Friend”: Thank god am left with my passport
“Friend”: am freaked out here
“Friend”: i need your help pls
Wade: What help do you need?
“Friend”: Our return flight leaves in 2 hours time but i need some cash to sort the hotel and to get a cab to the airport
Wade: and how much cash do you need?
“Friend”: 920
“Friend”: will def refund you back as soon as am back tomorrow… I promise
Wade: did you talk with carrie at the office?
“Friend”: i lost all contact
“Friend”: should i send you my info you need when you get to the western union ??
“Friend”: Thanks very much
Wade: i’m going to fly over this afternoon and bring the money in person. where should we meet?
“Friend”: no you can have the money wired on my name
“Friend”: i need a quick help
Wade: no i insist. anything for my friend in need.
Wade: just booked the plane ticket.
“Friend”: are you kidding me
“Friend”: am deadly freaked out here
“Friend”: do you know any western union store close to you ??
Wade: should i meet you at heathrow?
“Friend”: no
“Friend”: i need you help
Wade: are you at gatwick?
“Friend”: you can have the money wired to my name Via western union store close to you
“Friend”: am in local library 2 block to the hotel
Wade: ok i’ll be there in about 10 hours.
Wade: hang tight!
“Friend”: our return flight leaves in 2 hours time
Wade: don’t worry, i’ll be there soon.
Wade: i need to pack and find my passport.
Wade: do you want me to bring your cat?
Wade: ok i’ll bring your cat.
“Friend”: just joking
“Friend”: just pulling your leg
Wade: i’ll see you tonight.
“Friend”: ok
Wade: And when I see you, hacker, I’m going to rip your limbs off.
“Friend”: your fathere
Wade: goodbye, hacker. burn in hell.
“Friend” is now offline.
Birmingham Blogging Academy 
I love it! I am going to start coping your “I’ll just fly over” method!
See how long you can keep them tied up. Next time: I’m going full Jack Bauer on them.
Wade, THAT IS HILARIOUS! Funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Phyllis Neill
http://www.birminghamsocialmedia.com
This is great stuff! Are you at Gatwick!
too funny. love it.
Haha, so funny! Hope she got her account straitened out!
She’s working on getting her account fixed. Meanwhile, enjoy these responses to desperate Nigerian princes.
Wade, your friend’s name is still mentioned once in the transcript, ‘though blanked out of the graphic. You might want to edit.
Good catch, Rob. Thanks! It’s been fixed.
LOL! Good job Wade. I actually got a “suspicious” email from a friend and I thought her account was hacked. The funny thing is that it wasn’t and she was just confused by my comments such as “It was so good seeing you the other day” [we didn’t. She lives in another state.] I did contact her via facebook but she was a little slow in responding so I really thought her email had been hacked!
I’m glad it turned out everything was OK. You can never be too sure.
I especially love the part where you ask if you should bring her cat. HILARIOUS!
Damn! I’m going to tweet that if Twitter ever comes up again. Very graphic illustration of the dangers out there.
Damn. I’m going to tweet this if Twitter ever comes back up. Great job and graphic illustration of the dangers out there.
Oops. I thought the first comment didn’t go through. Sorry!