419 Hits Facebook… Nigerian ingenuity knows no bounds…
November 10, 2008 by Naija Pundit
Nigerian ingenuity knows no bounds. Instead of engaging in activities which are actually positive in nature, it seems we always look for the easy way out…
From Australia we get this interesting article….
Facebook has been infiltrated by Nigerian scammers and other cyber criminals who use compromised accounts to con users out of cash.
Now that even non-tech savvy internet users know not to respond to, or click on links in, emails from strangers, online thieves have turned to social networks and are finding it is easier to trick people when posing as their friends.
On Friday, Sydneysider Karina Wells received a Facebook message from one of her friends, Adrian, saying he was stranded in Lagos, Nigeria, and needed her to lend him $500 for a ticket home.
Adrian used relatively good English but, after chatting further, words such as "cell" instead of "mobile phone" tipped Wells off that she was not talking to her friend but someone who had taken over his account.
Using sites such as Facebook allows scammers to research and target victims more effectively and avoid having their messages blocked by spam filters, said Paul Ducklin, head of technology at Sophos Asia Pacific.
It is likely the scammer obtained Adrian's Facebook login details after he was infected with a virus delivered by email or in an infected web page.
Oh well… What goes around, comes around.
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