Amazing that this is still going on. We can warn and warn, but there are always new people coming on line, and always cleverer scammers ready to take advantage. Make sure passwords are strong, don't click links in emails from social networking sites, and NEVER send money via Western Union.

I don't understand why Western Union doesn't re-think its security. After all, it seems like asking for an ID should be reasonable. Or maybe the Western Union guy would think that when the same Nigerian guy shows up to pick up Western Union transfer for a bunch of different names, that maybe there is something going on...

People who steal from others deserve to go to Hell. They are cancers in society & deserve to be cut out.

Oh my god! I was just robbed. Can anyone send me money. If you do i'll laugh at you while i'm eating the dinner you bought me you losers :)

All of you need to know that there are also totally fake web pages out there and other threats like "man-in-the-middle. I have written an article with real examples. It is www.lizzzweb.com/threats.html

I am a web developer and i know how hard it is to hack one's facebook account. Its nearly impossible UNLESS u know the email address and passaword already. And how is that possible? Well all you have to do is to stay alert from spam, virus, malware and spywares. Some virus detects your KEY STROKES and can send your password hackers address. This is really fatal and most of the cases accounts are being hacked this way. Use enough security from the settings menu in facebook. Its best to give no email address in profile. Use good anti virus or internet security system sofwares. and do not give your password via instant messengers.
Happy FaceBooking :-)

This is why I don't use facebook anymore. Years ago, it used to be a nice and casual social network for schools and companies. Now it's just like myspace where it's filled with tons of unnecessary stuff that I don't even use and also unknown people.

Thanks to this, I'll be more careful if anyone ever asks for money. Will, I'm only 14, so I wouldn't have thousands of dollars to give away. I'd say 10 bucks at most. Though those 10 dollars is still a lot to just lose in some scam.

Oh, and a person who gets scammed like this isn't "stupid", they just don't know the possibilities of what a hacker can do. Even I never thought that hackers would be able to do that.

It isn't that hard to tell. Anyways, if they were actually your REAL friend, wouldn't you call them or know if they were going to some other country? Besides, I doubt your friend would do that over facebook. Anything involving money online is one way or another a scam. Don't even believe it, it is a world of its own here.

Hehehhehe...

Another way to discern scam from a real need is that no one would tell you on facebook or anything like that that they need money... They would call you... right?

this happened 2 me last month.someone sent me an e.mail from South Africa saying i ve won 2 million dollar.he asked me to send him my information like ID card and my bank account,so he can wire me the money. First i was like man are you crazy,my bank account?and then i came up with this idea.i was gonna open a new account with only 1 dollar in it,and send it to him.so if it was actually a scam, he's gonna get nothing but a dollar,instead of giving him my real account and get all the money in it.i knew all the way it was a scam,so i didn't even try it.

common sense is not commmon

Eh, I won't show sympathy for them. It's common sense. Let's think of it this way.
"ADURR I NEED MONEY, IM FKED UP, GIMME PL0X."

*Person receives message and without another damn thought sends a SHITLOAD of money*

"K00L U JUST GOT SCAMMED LOLZ."

Seriously? It's ridiculous to the point of hilarity. Not one phone call to confirm?..How..idiotic..can..people get...these days.

I think the crafty and greedy will pay a sweet price beyond imagination. No one is to worry there are multiple forms of payback. However, what do I know. HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA............................................................................................................

I am really sick of everyone saying they don't feel sorry for people who send the money, some people aren't really computer saavy, and it's human nature to want to help someone who you care about!! My BF has sold stuff on the internet and has had people try to scam him as well, and I agree that you should verify ANYTHING that comes, whether it be FB, MS, or any other site!! But don't dog the people who sent the money, that's just flat out RUDE!!! How would you feel if it were you????

If you actually read the message, most people with common sense will know scams. The is almost always no punctuation, no capitals and the grammer is horrible.

I've got a FB acct. but after reading this think I just might shut it down and notify those that I would most likely contact.

I love the people who blindly give out passwords just because some random email said to. lmao!
Makes me want to email them and tell them to send me money, bahahahahaaaaa!!!

If people haven't learned about scams by now they'll never leard. Whatever happened to common sense.

I think people should be more trusting. When a good friend (or total stranger) asks to borrow money, you should send it, because you'll eventually get it back with interest, and you'll be doing someone a big, big favor.

WELL THINKBIT NOT EVERYONE IS A MORON. SOME PPL USE IT TO CONNECT WITH FAMILY NOT EVERONE FALLS FOR IT. JUST CUZ YOU ACT LIKE YOU DONT HAVE A HEART DOESNT MEAN EVERYONE ELSE DOES TOO. AND YES I AGREE WITH EVERYONE ELSE YOU SHOULD CALL BEFORE YOU SEND ANY MONEY. ITS THE SMART THING TO DO.

A friend traveling in Africa recent had her account hijacked. Luckily, none of her friends received emails pleading for money but we did become concerned when she disappeared and suddenly had a thousand friends from LA. Don't get fooled!

As I keep telling my clients:
NOTHING is safe on the Internet.
Example: If a teenager can break into the Pentagon data base, how secure do you think YOUR computer is?
How secure do you think Internet banking is?
Etc.
Leonard Nijssen
Owner of T.D.C. Computer Services
Mena, Arkansas

I had an account on facebook until someone hacked into it and acted as if it were me sending a virus to everyone in my contacts.
I notified Facebook several times to help but not until two weeks later and dozens of friends battled with virus's did facebook actually delete this hacker.
I even changed my password three times like Facebook suggessted but did little good as Facebook as little to no support.
Once I learned Facebook had little interest in protecting it's customers I deleted my page and haven't gone back along with a handful of friends.
I read others say it's a free site and maybe people should pay for the support.... ahhh Facebook makes millions from this site and that should be motivation enough to protect the customers unless it dips into their capital.

Someone hacked into the email address of one of the member of our indonesian Toastmasters Club. The email was sent to the Club's email group and was written in the I-form. It said something like "I was stuck in London, robbed and needed money". Unfortunately, the member just lost his mobile phone that day and we did not have his home phone landline number so we could not contact him or his family to verify the email. Eventually another fellow member just emailed him and advised him to contact the Indonesian embassy in London...

>>This needs to be stopped and the goverment needs to do something to help.<<

What exactly should the goverNment do? Subsidize brain transplants for all the idiots out there?

Now Look here Facebook is A very Good Site Were You can Play Games Chat To Other users And its A good Place To Relax But You can't relaz when You Have People Talking A Load of Shit And Fake Problems About facebook That are Not True Now Why Dont You Stop Makeing Up a Load Of Carp And The Things That Are true So back of FacebookAnd The Facebook staff

Once again, Facebook gets blamed for every evil in the world. If scammers can't use Facebook, they'll use something else. For the last time, LAY OFF FACEBOOK. Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

If you get mugged in a foreign country, go the the EMBASSY. Not FACEBOOK.

Is it that difficult to pick up the phone and verify that their so called "friend" is in trouble? Who sends money just because someone asked on on a social networking site? Do a little due diligence people.

Is it that difficult to pick up the phone and verify that their so called "friend" is in trouble? Who sends money just because someone asked on on a social networking site? Do a little due diligence people.

I guess I'm just a cynical kind of guy, but it would seem to me that if you wanted to borrow some money from your friends and not actually have to pay it back. You could just send out the bogus requests, put your best victim face on and trot on down to your local Western Union -- apparently, they've got your back.

The common thread in these phony pleas for help is grammar on a grade school level. Unfortunately, as more and more people eschew proper grammar and spelling, fewer people will recognize such glaring errors. If you recognize the errors, you are less likely to take the sender seriously. Of course an attorney is capable of making mistakes, but most attorneys have clerical assistants of one form or another to catch those mistakes.

I agree with many of the comments above? What dummy is going to wire money to a complete stranger??? If anyone falls for this crap, they deserve what they get!

If anybody has recieved an email or has had their email or Facebook account hacked into, please call PhoneBusters at 1-888-495-8501!!!
It's a joint task force with the OPP, RCMP, and the Competition Bureau of Canada.

If anybody has recieved an email or has had their email or Facebook account hacked into, please call PhoneBusters at 1-888-495-8501!!!
It's a joint task force with the OPP, RCMP, and the Competition Bureau of Canada.

We regularly clean up spyware/adware/trojans from computers that use Facebook. I sure wish the owners of that site would clean it up.

Why attack FB and My Space? Sounds like it happens to people with email accounts also. I use FB strictly for the entertainment value and the added bonus of being connected to family. We all play games and try to beat each other. It's just fun. In this age of scamming and trying to get money, I don't even read email from anyone I don't know personally. It gets deleted. Just have to have common sense people.

SO EASY NOT TO BE FOOLED ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS HAVE THAT PERSON CALL YOU COLLECT TO HEAR THEIR VOICE TO KNOW IF THEY ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE, OR ASK THEM A TRICK QUESTION

The internet is and always has been a wild frontier. Like BBS's and online internet ventures prior to the www, the old warning is still true. Only knowledgable adults should venture out into cyberspace. All the "simplifying" done by GUI browsers and "make-it-easy-for-any-schmoe" window dressing doesn't negate the fact that if you don't know what you are doing, you should stay in your own lane or get back on the sidewalk.

We are morphing the internet into someplace that people should be foolproof. That means when they do something stupid, or don't take virus precautions, or answer a Nigerian scam, or a phishing email, you can't sue the maker of the internet for your stupidity, no matter how much money Al Gore has.

I got a message from one of my FB acquaintances asking for money. I did not think she would have asked me for money since we only knew each other through courses we were taking, but not real close. I also looked at the info page and saw an email address that did not look like something she would use. So I asked her for confirmation on how we knew each other and instead of confirming how we knew each other, she responsed, 'You think I am playing?' and I said if she wasn't she could tell me the answer. After that, I found out that she had contacted the other people in the courses we were taking and then she un-friended all those of us that did not help her out. It was the second person I knew that this happened to. Just ask questions of the person that is contacting you, something that is not on the FB account and that only you and they should know. If they can't respond promptly to your question, you know they have been hacked.

It doesn't matter if the site is free or paid. I used to have an account with E-Harmony that wasn't cheap, and 90% of my so-called "matches" were Nigerian scammers. I've also know someone that got scammed via their profile on Match.com. The scammers are going to get an account or they're going to hack your account...either way, people just need to be more vigilant and less naive when it comes to people that you only know via the internet. If you've never met the requester in person, don't send them money. If you know them, then call them before blindly sending them thousands of dollars. I agree, if you're stupid enough to send money to people you don't really know or you don't take the time to confirm the need before you send it, then you deserve to be scammed!

If you have no life and join FACEBOOK or TWITTER, then you deserved to be hacked. You Moronic people who have to post everything little thing about yourself on your facebook and the bitch about it when people steals your account, GET A LIFE PEOPLE!!!

Facebook isnt the only venture on the internet. goto the movies or go bowling! BE A HERO! NOT A ZERO!!!

This exact thing happened to me. They started using my facebook online chat to hit up my friends. They told them the London story, used my daughter's first name and told them she was distraught. Fortunately, all of the friends called me to verify. As they started catching on to the hacker, the hacker deleted the friend link. I logged on with my husbands and daughter's accounts to try and "catch" the hacker. As soon as the hacker figured that out, those friends were deleted. Needless to say, that account is now dead and I had to start over. I still have some long distance friends who won't accept my friend request on facebook now because they don't believe it's really me. :(

So, here's the scam of the century - not Facebook but college online newspaper classifieds.

My daughter's roommate ran an ad looking for subletters for their apartment this past summer. Someone named Nicole Barnes from London, England answered (in broken English) saying she wanted the sublet as she was a teacher coming to the school to take summer classes. She sent Lydia a check for $3,345 from the Teacher's Credit Union via overnight FedEx which I put in my bank account. It was for more than the rent (which was $1500) as Nicole thought my daughter could pay her movers when they arrived - she didn't realize that Lydia didn't live there full time. All seemed legit. When Lydia said she wouldn't be there when the movers arrived, Nicole asked if we could wire the balance back to her so she would have it to give to the movers some other way - $1,834, which I did immediately because she had overnighted the check to us. Well, the TCU checked bounced a few days later. I called and TCU said it wasn't from any of their accounts.

I then called the address from the FedEx airbill which was an address in Texas even though the letter was sent from CA and left a message with a John Smith. I also called Western Union who said the funds were already delivered. Their son had his identity stolen and someone had opened a FedEx account with it. We were their 5th call, same story. They had contacted FedEx but the account wasn't closed. They were in touch with the FBI.

I also googled the address and found quite a few references to "scam" in the descriptive text. Oh well, live and learn. I should have waited until the check cleared but I was being honest and forthright.

I had the same Facebook scam happen to me, when I tried to get back on my account, they changed my email and password to prevent me to get back on. My friends figured it was not me, poor English skills and spelling. It happened to me when I was at my fiance's parents' cabin, no internet access. I text messaged everyone in my contact list and told them it was not me. I finally got the mess cleared up. I even got a message from an acquaintance facebook friend telling me how wrong I was asking her for money when she really didn't know me. I explained it was not me, but someone hijacked my account. People that challenged the scammers were "unfriended" by the scammers. Yes, it was a big mess, but I finally was able to clear it all up. No woosy passwords for me anymore.

A pretty good hint that you're being scammed through e-mail is poor spelling and improper grammar. Of course, this is not an absolute method. However, if you received an email from an alleged business, the e-mail should have been proofread. If a business offer reads like a "LOLCatz" caption, chances are good the email is fraudulent.

I had someone use my profile picture and name to create a new account on Facebook. They posted a comment as me with this fake account saying my account had been messed up and I had to make a new one. Luckily my friend saw this and told me. I've tried contacting Facebook numerous times and they haven't done anything yet. I've emailed them from my email account that is attached to my correct facebook and they are telling me it isn't. Needless to say, i'm am not very happy, and will be discontinuing my facebook account for good.

Hi, it's me, Randi. I'm stuck at a dead end job with no hope of getting out before the mortician carries me out. Please send money so that I may enjoy life before death overcomes me. All monies can be sent Western Union to PoorRandi somewhere in the south. Thank you and no this is not a scam.

I feel so bad for them. Where can I send money?

Wake up people!

I am as technically dependent as the next fool, but I mean really... Pick up the phone, or reply something along the lines of "Call me collect immediately. You have my number".

Get yourself a dash of scrutiny and a cup of common sense before you give your money (or personal information for that matter) away to someone on the internet.

Does common sense sounds like a good idea... please use it!

It boils down to this, ignorance. I stopped using facebook because this happened to me, but the thing with facebook is when you deactivate your account, it stays there it just isn't visible anymore. So, if someone knows your information all they have to do is type it in and your account is back open. I had to call Facebook to have my account deleted because after a week it was reactived on me three times. I don't care much for socail networking sites, that is what my cell phone and car are used for. You never know who you are talking to online, and as long as people are ignorant these problems will always be there. I agree with the person who said Facebook is a free site, it's free therefore it won't be watched as closey as a paid site. As for everyone saying to call the friend first, I agree with that also because if they are your friend you should have other ways to contact them other than a website, and if you don't they are not a true friend!

Does common sense sounds like a good idea... please use it!!!

Does common sense sounds like a good idea... please use it!!!

I have been sent different videos with viruses attached to them by three friends in facebook. Opened the first one at work, and because our version of Internet Explorer was old, it wouldn't play, which saved me, although it sent my browser to a fake virus scanning site. The second one (a different video) was caught by my parents virus scanner and reported. He also warned us, although I found out after the fact. The third was from a mutual friend whose site had been infected. DO NOT open a video of a shower from a friend, it might be infected. First it's posted on their profile and e-mailed to everyone in their friends list, then it's posted to some of the individual's friends wall, alphabetically, I think. Thought people should know.

Here is the number for Facebook Customer Service:

650-543-4800

I don't know which is more scary....the lenghths the scammers will go to, or the lack of self-concern and ignorance of those who are scammed. These emails couldn't be any more obviously NOT written by someone who speaks english as their first language....gimme a break!!!

The only time I ever knew about my e-mail account being hacked was from a friend I hadn't seen in about four years. Someone used my account to send him one of those stupid male enhancement product ads. He should have called me and asked about it, but he just blocked me instead. When I saw him, I found out that later on he really did miss an important message from me because I did not know he had blocked my address.

I received an email from London from one of my friends. It seemed so real because it had his mom's name and her birthdate as the email address. I sent an email to my buddy to confirm the email first and he said it was a fraud. So easy to be duped these days.

My Facebook and Hotmail account were hijacked during this summer. The hijacker sent out emails to my contact list basically saying that I was stuck in London due to losing my wallet, and to wire about $2500 to London. None of my friends fell for it, thankfully. I was able to trace the hijacker's emails who turned out to be from Lagos, Nigeria, Africa, and I was also able to re-possess my Hotmail account, which I deleted and made anew..

I always delete e-mails that says they will give me half of someone estate I never heard of.
The scary thing is the lack of security on facebook. I have real friends, some live out of town that I have not seen in years. It is good to see them on facebook and catch up. I do not post message on facebook that I am on vacation. I cringe when I see my friends say they are going on vacation. I agree some post silly things like they have just had dinner with family. I like catching up with friends and not play silly games on facebook.

I was wondering if it might be something to do with Facebook itself or maybe the games associated with Facebook. I noticed a status changed on a game that I play in association with Facebook and thought that was very strange.

I agree with everyone here and I would never send money without first talking to my friend myself. Secondly, shame on Facebook - they are making a fortune, surely they could provide a support phone number.

Awhile back a guy (named) chris waddle was a friend of my friend when i commented on her page he added me and acted like he knew me so began to question it he stop meassaging me so for now ppl should friend ppl you now. GOD GIVE US COMMUNACATION BEFORE TECHOLOGY

I actually had my Yahoo account hijacked about six months ago. I only found out about it because one of the addresses in my address book was no good and I got one of the e-mails returned to me. It had my signature (which I rarely used) on it and everything. It said exactly what was mentioned on the show: I was stuck in Great Britain and had something happen to my cash. One of my friends, who had been going through a lot of health and financial problems was very upset about it and would have sent money if she had it. However, there was no instructions as to how to send the money on the e-mail.

They also got into my eBay account at the same time and ordered a bunch of stuff and didn't pay for it.

I agree with many people here: this should be a non-scam except for some people soooooooo stupid as to fall for it. If a friend in need e-mailed me for something important instead of calling to speak directly to me, they wouldn't be much of a friend.

Um, pro tip, folks... if anyone you know is asking to borrow money, it's really stupid to send it to them without at least talking to them on the phone first.

How can someone just send money without checking it all out. Especially if you are just a friend to someone on a site, that you have never met. If its a family member, you can at least call and make sure it is them. I get offers from other countries that want to give me money. I know this can't be real, so I don't even reply, its nonsense. How did they get my e-mail address in the first place. They don't know me from anyone else. You have to turn down these offers or requests. you have to use common sense. I will never send money to anyone unless I check it out first.(thoroughly)

I can not understand why someone would just send money without checking out the situation. I have people sending me stuff like that all the time, except they want to give me money from other countries. I send them nasty messages and let them know that I am not an idiot. Stop falling for these scams. Check everything out that involves money.

I'd just like to add that whenever you see a supposed professional email from a company soliciting anything from you, check the way that the email is written. Misspelled words, grammatical errors, and kind of computer jargon or spellings like "u" or U're instead of You or you're...
This is specifically in reference to the one above written by Alison from Glen Rock, NJ. Clearly the person who wrote those emails to her didn't proofread them. Sometimes, careful reading and discernment will thwart any attempt to scam anyone.

Facebook is worthless. I can live my life without spending hours viewing photos of my old High School drama teacher's dog. And if you have children, and you post photos of them on Facebook, SHAME ON YOU! Now all the sick freak predators online can see your kids, your city and state, and YOU too.

Privacy my friends. Consider it a good thing.

James Sullivan...I'm so sorry you don't have any friends. You must lead a very lonely life. My heart hurts for you.

As for the scamming, my friend got his hacked a couple weeks ago and the scammer was rather floored to find out he hacked a cop. :) It was kinda fun after that.

This happened to me yesterday...the person was chatting with a college aged cousin out of state who called her Dad in a panic. Her dad told her we weren't out of town - and if we were in trouble we wouldn't contact the poor college kid via facebook.

In the meantime, I did report to FB and they suspended my account. No idea if I'll get it back because they haven't bothered to respond to any of my e-mails (great customer service!) But it does make me rethink my use of FB and what I post out there if I ever do get it back! I didn't post any personal information (like address etc.) But enough to make me think about what a hacker could utilize in another scam.

Bottom line - FB is not as safe as we like to pretend it is. And they do NOT care about their customers AT ALL. If they are really concerned about this, why not be in contact with those who report such a crime happening (as opposed to just deactivating the account).

I agree with Terry in TX. These websites aren't good for our society anyway. We should use our free time for real interaction, giving of ourselves, exercising or whatever. These sites actually cause marriages to break up sometimes because it's so easy to get "romantically" involved on line.

Quote from Capn Mass"If someone asked me for anything more than $5 I would sure as hell want to talk to them in person first."

I'm glad someone else said it. This whole facebook twitter, myspace, bull is getting way out of control and people are relying on it TOOOOOOOO much. Pick up the phone and talk to the person for real, Everything electronic can be faked, direct e-mail or not I trust no one till I talk to them in person.

Oh wait... I got beat up trying to get a Big Mac today... can you guys wire me money? I'm in London BTW... ;)

I think sites like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace are ok, but only if you truly know the people you are friends with and they know you. My friends would know that I wouldn't send a note on FB or MS asking for money. I would call and speak to them. That's the difference, electronically if that's all you know of your 'friends', then yes you would fall for this scam. But your real friends that have other ways to contact you, would call at such a request.

Ye gods, but I hate it when I type several paragraphs and they just disappear when I press the wrong key. MSNBC, please fix this.

I've gotten these messages from friends before. Are people even gullible enough to send money in this day and age? get real

I'll only put my personal name & info on "facebook" or any other website the day they pry it from my corpse.

Trust no one!!!

Why would someone just send a hefty amount of money across the world without even one phonecall?

I was a victim of the scam through my e-mail. Someone sent out e-mails to my friends and family saying I was in Canada and needed money wired. My friends and family called me to ask what was going on. They knew not to send anything. I hope no one else falls for these scams.

last i checked facebook was free. maybe they should have a pay version for those of you who want support.

I searched my own name (an unusual one with an unusual spelling) and was amazed to find out that I had a doppelganger. I contacted facebook and requested that they remove the so-called "me," as I was pretty sure there wasn't another one around. They killed her.

I read this story with great interest...the first thing I would think any person should do is CALL THE~ FRIEND IN NEED, you should have their cell phone.

If anyone out there is STUPID enough to blindly just wire money w/o calling the friend, well, you deserve to be scammed. That's all I'm saying...Be wise!

My second comment on this issue and it is germane to some of the remarks here. In a nutshell, this is no different than getting an email from former President George Bush or President Barack Obama telling you to stop by the White House to become the Vice President for a week but you must first send a small fee to get screened before you are allowed access into the White House. Would you actually belive that? Even if that email comes from a friend or a loved one you know it is most likely a scam. I agree with a few readers here, where's the common sense?

As for Facebook or your ISP setting filters in place, well, there's a reasonable level of expectation that when you sign up for these social engineering sites you're exposing not only your identity but everything you share in it. Therefore, it is imperative that users are mindful and understand that they are responsible for the security of information they share (regardless of who they share that information with) and that if you read the fine print (User agreement), Facebook or any social engineering site is not liable for any of that stuff.

My friendly advise is: Use complex passwords, change them reguarly, don't share user ID's and passwords, and unless you initiate communication, you should first verify the source.

I totally believe what most people are saying facebook is not safe people are able to hack into your account with ease and access all your information and because of this other innocent people are being harrassed.I think before someone is able to open a facebbok account they should be able to verify themselves by using some form of ID.Just a suggestion.Right now I am still being harrassed and the fraud account is still opened and facebook has done nothing to close it off.

Please beware of people contacting you to tell you that they have seen your profile picture and want to use it in a billboard ad. I received the below email on September 27th and sent a response to try to find out more. Please read below 3 emails (addresses and phone numbers are removed just incase they are a real company who's name was used to make it seem more legit) Take my warning, this sounds like one of those personal shopper scams where they send you by courier a check that you deposit and then yo immediately wire a large % to someone via western union only to find out days later that the check bounced and you have lost the money you wired..., be careful...

Date: Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 12:14 AM
Subject: BILLBOARD

Hello,
Hope you are alright?I will like to notify you that our company ********* is requesting the use of this your profile photo for a Blackberry Summer time Billboard Advertisement that will be launched at London's Heathrow Airport in month of october/November 2009.We will require your approval by email to enable our sponsors process your payment.Kindly send your email approval and inquiry to our sponsors at ********@ymail.com
We will be awaiting your quick response.

Regards,

Steve C

Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009, 9:13 PM

Dear Sir,
I received the below email today and I am very interested to hear more about this opportunity.
Please can you send me more information to the following email address before I can make any approvals. *******@gmail.com

Thank you,
Alison

dateWed, Sep 30, 2009 at 10:02 AM
subjectBILLBOARD
signed-byymail.com

hide details Sep 30 (6 days ago)

Hi,
We quite appreciate your swift response concerning the modeling
contract this is not a joke at all its a once in a life time
opportunity. Your pictures u posted on this site has been accepted by the agency,********* Inc." as one of the preferred Model for the Blackberry billboard advert at Heathrow Airport. We don't discriminate sizes or shapes of individual models, we just acknowledge gorgeous pictures and use it for commercials.

The financier will dispatch payment to you by courier service. You
will receive a cheque (BTW $6,000 and $9,000 ) as payment for the billboard contract. You'll also be sent an agreement Form M20 via email. When you receive payment you will take out the 20% of the total sum for your gorgeous pictures that is being used, after which you proceed to sending the balance over to your appointed agent via western union money transfer for Legal Documentation of the deal .This payment will also be used as "sign-up fee" with the agent.
I'll be waiting your urgent response with the following information:

First name:
Last name:
Age:
House address:
Post Code:
City:
Country:
Phone no:
Occupation:
Hobby:

Many thanks,
********** INC.
+447045*******

I have also read articles that people use the status messages the people put up on Facebook to monitor if they are on vacation. It is just want they need to know - that you'll be in Italy for 2 weeks. They somehow find your personal information and you come back to an empty house. They have 2 weeks to clear it out and some people now update - we are on our way home, the plane has landed etc...

How come people don't call to verrify the story? If you are not good enough friends to have each other's phone number, they are not a good enough friend to wire money to...

If someone asked me for anything more than $5 I would sure as hell want to talk to them in person first.

One has to wonder if Western Union serves any legitimate purpose anymore; it seems like most scams of this type depend on Western Union to work - my husband recently received a work at home scam in the mail that utilized WU. Since there are no more telegrams and about a million other ways to legitimately send money, why does this "service" exist? Does anyone use it other than the scammers?

Those morons with facebook and twitter accounts represent the stupidity in this country and deserve what they got. Garbage dot com companies like these including Google, Yahoo, Utube and similar crap (just the names these clowns give to their companies indicate what airheads they are) represent what is wrong with this country. The complete incompetence to realize what real value is.

I agree that it is really dumb to blindly send money from a facebook or email request! Even if it were my own husband, I would wait until I talked to him first.

Also, to people who fall for it...usually the wording in the email/massage is so ridiculous that I am amazed they beleive it is thier friend or family member!! See the above post for an example..." I will like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently. "

I don't know about the rest of you, but no one I know talks like that. Oh well, there will always be gullible people, and thus, scam artists...

I think it's ridiculous that you can't even contact Facebook..

It is all due to security questions that are supposed to make your account secure but they do the opposite. I can hack into tons of email accounts right now if I wanted to just because people have security questions about their pet dog or some personal information that I could find online or through resources. All I would do is reset their password once I got the correct answer to the security question. Then if their email is the same one set up for facebook, I could easily get into their Facebook account too.

The problem is DONT HAVE SECURITY QUESTIONS WITH ACTUAL ANSWERS. If you have to put in a question like Mother's Maiden name, put the answer as some random mess like: sjkghlw840ghw8

That way no one can break in.

Donna

I have been locked out for 4 days. People say it is because your account is on another server than your friends and it is being worked on... while your friends can still access their accts that are on other servers.

There is no customer service number to call or email. Really lame!

I am just waiting a while longer before I deactivate my own acct.

This is all really scray. I don't use Facebook but was considering joining- not anymore! Are there any other scams besides the "Mugged in Europe" one? The criminals are probably thinking up new ones right now, just as people are wising up to this one.

Social Darwinism sure has its share of tales of woe.

Of course once i complain about facebook MSN can't print that.GLAD TO SEE YOUR IMPARTIAL JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY!!!