Facebook Scam Leads Woman To Wire $4K Abroad
An AP newswire article by Betsy Taylor, via The Boston Globe, reports that:
A Missouri woman was tricked into wiring about $4,000 to someone in England after receiving faked messages from a friend on Facebook asking for help, police said Wednesday.More here.
Jayne Scherrman of Cape Girardeau wired the money through Western Union after receiving what she believed were several requests for help from her friend, Sgt. Jason Selzer said.
Police were notified about the scam on Aug. 26, Selzer said. They believe someone took over the Facebook account of a Cape Girardeau County resident, Grace Parry, changed the password so she couldn't access it and sent out messages saying she and her husband had been detained in London and needed money.
Scherrman said received a message last Tuesday from Parry saying she needed help. Scherrman, a pediatric dentist, said Parry and her minister husband go on mission trips, so she didn't think it unusual that they might be in England.
She figured they really needed assistance if they could only reach her electronically, and expected they'd quickly pay her back. She originally was told electronically they needed $600 for a hotel and taxis. Then she was told it wasn't enough with the exchange rate. Finally, she was told by a caller that the couple had been detained and more money was needed to help them fly home.
posted by Fergie @ 9/04/2009 04:01:00 PM
1 Comments:
I find the most amazing part of this story to be that the victim's BS detectors didn't shoot off the scale when the only way they could communicate with their "friend" was via Facebook. I guess it's true what they say about fools and their money.
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