I try to talk to people who start a chat with me on Facebook. I’m an open networker and will typically know most people I friend on Facebook, but some are just connections on LinkedIn. One such person “Bruce Snowdeal” started a chat with me this afternoon. He quickly moved to the scam. Here’s the conversation copy/pasted from the facebook chat:
Bruce
hi
4:12pmLori
hey bruce
4:13pmBruce
how are you doing?
4:16pmBruce
are you there
4:21pmLori
yep
on phone on and off
4:22pmBruce
lori, I’m in some kind of deep shit right now!
4:24pmLori
why?
4:25pmBruce
I’m stranded in london got mugged at gun point last night
all cash,credit card and phone were stolen
4:25pmLori
that’s funny
4:25pmBruce
why did you say that
4:25pmLori
because that’s how all the scam messages start… have you seen the commercials?
When I tried to chat back and ask why he was in London, I got a message “you do not have permission to chat with this user.” So, I clicked through to his page… the wall was turned off so no one can write on it, but he listed his websites and his LinkedIn profile. There were also pictures and family albums. I’m not saying he wasn’t in London, but come-on. If he was really in that kind of trouble, would he be chatting with me on Facebook or calling his credit card company for help?
So I did what every good and promiscuous networker would do: I removed him as a friend on facebook and from my connections on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/brucesnowdeal).
Having said all that, my Yahoo account was hacked last week and a link to a Canadian pharmacy was sent to every one of my connections. It was incredibly easy to go through the process of telling Yahoo that my account had been compromised. The only information I needed to know was information that was publicly available. Scary… on all fronts.
I guess what this post is about then is to be careful. Bruce, if you’re out there and you’re real, I hope you get things straightened out. If you really are a scammer, karma will take care of you. And for the rest of us, don’t be afraid to be online, but use care and common sense just as you would in the real world.
