Facebook shams using ‘friend’ trick for women

Wellington: Facebook cons have found a new way to trick people through internet, as they are now hijacking the network’s live chat system to cheat users out of cash.

Experts say the scammers are getting more confident with every success, and will learn details about the person whose profile they have hacked in order to appear more persuasive. A woman, Claire Spring from Hamilton recently lost 500 dollars to the ploy, after ‘her friend’ appeared on Facebook chat claiming she had been robbed in Manila, and needed funds to fly home. “I believed every minute of it. I rushed around panicked to send the money and it wasn’t until my daughter came home and asked if I’d checked if it was really my friend that I began to think, but by then it was too late,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Spring, as saying. Her friend Julie, who didn’t wished her last name to be disclosed, said she felt really guilty due to what transpired, although she wasn’t at fault for it. Paul Evans-McLeod, another friend of Julie, whose account was hacked, said: "It’s so scary. How they got into my account is way beyond me.” He then raised the alarm, emailing Julie and then his friends with a copy of the conversation to help them avoid the trap. Another friend, Paul Evans-McLeod, was also nearly taken in by the scam, but recovered enough to ask some security questions. He then raised the alarm, emailing Julie and then his friends with a copy of the conversation to help them avoid the trap. "It was just the last couple of comments that raised my suspicions," Evans-McLeod said. "They were saying `go now``, `go quick`` and I thought Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said that people’s reaction was completely natural. He said: “Because it’s contact through a real-time system people are much more likely to fall for it.” ANI