Thief picks the wrong lady to scam in Facebook

September 24, 2010 – 8:22 am

An identity thief picked the wrong woman to scam — hacking into her Facebook account and posing as the victim to scam her friends.

Joyce Bary’s account was hacked into and her photo and name were stolen in order to fool her friends. It’s an old scam with a new twist.

It began with a message seemingly from Bary, which said she was in London, had been held at gunpoint and was robbed, and needed $1,200 to get home.

Bary said the e-mails looked legitimate, bearing her name and photo. But one of her friends who received the e-mail was a little more savvy than the scammer expected. He kept the scammer on the hook long enough for local authorities to nab him. He did so by asking a lot of questions; questions which incriminated the thief. He asked where he could send the money and if he could send it by Federal Express. The friend was told to send it by Western Union. He also quizzed the fake Bary, asking if she was still employed at a made-up company. When the response was yes, the friend knew it was a scam.

The fake Joyce Bary went away, but her password had been stolen. Bary hasn’t changed her password, and says she no longer wants to log in anyway.

Facebook is doing more to protect its users and to guard against hackers, including asking users to identify friends from the profile pictures in order to be allowed to log in.

One of the simplest things you can do to protect your Facebook account and your persononal information is to change your password. Be sure to make it difficult, using upper and lower case letters and numbers. Don’t use the same password for long periods of time either; you should change it frequently.

The same goes for anywhere you use passwords. Make them tough to figure out. Remember: you shouldn’t make it easy for criminals to steal your information — or disrupt your life.

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