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I've never been to England (please read this)

Ron G.

By Ron G.,
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Ron G. Newbie

Ron G.

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Evidently, someone has gotten into my Facebook account and telling people I'm in England, got mugged and need $500 to get back home.

Most of my Facebook buds are GSers.

DO NOT GIVE them anything. I'm NOT in England and don't need $500....I want $500 (who doesn't?), but that's a different story.

IGNORE any thing you might get from these people knowing that I'm safely tucked away in the Ozarks of Arkansas and not in need of any cash.

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bowtwi Newbie

bowtwi

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Stinkin' hacker freaks! I've changed my passwords today.

I'm glad you weren't mugged at gunpoint over there - that sure would've ruined your nonexistant resort vacation over there!

I just had some big issues with one of my computers with malware, spyware, and trojans - I suspect they got to me through facebook and I barely ever go there. I ended up needing a new hard drive and am so thankful for all the available free antivirus, antispyware, antimalware, etc...

Quite a reminder of why we need to keep up on our "housecleaning"!!!

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RumRunner Newbie

RumRunner

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Evidently, someone has gotten into my Facebook account and telling people I'm in England, got mugged and need $500 to get back home.

Most of my Facebook buds are GSers.

DO NOT GIVE them anything. I'm NOT in England and don't need $500....I want $500 (who doesn't?), but that's a different story.

IGNORE any thing you might get from these people knowing that I'm safely tucked away in the Ozarks of Arkansas and not in need of any cash.

Thanks for the heads up man.

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HAPe4me Rookie

HAPe4me

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Ron- sorry that happened to you. Maybe this will help if you can get to that page.

http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=419_scam

Is a FB page set up for you to report this scam and to resecure your account. I hope it will work for you. Do you still have access to the email account you registered for FB with?

also, this page might help:

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=107720572130

If you can't access it, let me know and I will copy and send it direct to you.

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Mister P-Mosh Newbie

Mister P-Mosh

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Unfortunately this exact scam happens a lot. It's been on the news and is very common. As far as security is concerned, Facebook is a huge mess. I recently found out that even if you try to protect your content there, if a friend of yours takes one of those idiotic quizzes, the programmers behind the quiz get to access a lot of YOUR personal information.

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Bolshevik Grand Master

Bolshevik

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Unfortunately this exact scam happens a lot. It's been on the news and is very common. As far as security is concerned, Facebook is a huge mess. I recently found out that even if you try to protect your content there, if a friend of yours takes one of those idiotic quizzes, the programmers behind the quiz get to access a lot of YOUR personal information.

like my login info? or that I'm trying to stop global warming by sending my friends a dancing flower with a smiley face?

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Mister P-Mosh Newbie

Mister P-Mosh

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like my login info? or that I'm trying to stop global warming by sending my friends a dancing flower with a smiley face?

Not just that. Here is a quote from a PC World article discussing Facebook's Beacon system:

Beacon will report back to Facebook on members' activities on third-party sites that participate in Beacon even if the users are logged off from Facebook and have declined having their activities broadcast to their Facebook friends.

...

"The first two cases involve the transmission of user data despite 'No thanks' having been selected on the opt-out dialog, and are causes for deep concern. They pale, however, in comparison to the third case, where Facebook was receiving data about my online habits while I was not logged in, and was doing so silently, without even alerting me to the cross-site communication," he wrote in the research note.

Of course, this is not the problem I was originally talking about, but it is one aspect. The original problem I mentioned is discussed in this Washington Post article:

Those mini-programs, called widgets or applications, allow users to personalize their pages and connect with friends and acquaintances. But they could pose privacy risks. Some security researchers warn that developers of the software have assembled too much information -- home town, schools attended, employment history -- and can use the data in ways that could harm or annoy users.

...

Even private profiles, in which personal details are available only to specific friends, reveal personal information, said Chris Soghoian, a cyber-security researcher at Indiana University. And they're allowing access to their friends' information -- even if their friends are not using the application. That's because MySpace and Facebook, the largest online social networks, let outside developers see a member's information when they add a program.

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CKnapp3 Newbie

CKnapp3

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Evidently, someone has gotten into my Facebook account and telling people I'm in England, got mugged and need $500 to get back home.

Most of my Facebook buds are GSers.

DO NOT GIVE them anything. I'm NOT in England and don't need $500....I want $500 (who doesn't?), but that's a different story.

IGNORE any thing you might get from these people knowing that I'm safely tucked away in the Ozarks of Arkansas and not in need of any cash.

Ron,

That impostor tried to contact me Friday night with the same line. I'm happy to hear that you're really OK and safe. I was a bit skeptical anyway and I don't usually loan money out, especially with me be unemployed at the moment. Check your PMs

Chuck

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Sushi Newbie

Sushi

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Posted (edited)

I got the same message, Ron. When I asked how 'you' were, 'you' said, "Not good at the moment". I replied, "You must be, if you're looking to ME for comfort". First of all, it took 'you'forever to type ANYTHING. I mean, I know you're not the slowest typer, but you're not the fastest either. Kind of half fast. :biglaugh:

Edited by Sushi
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Ron G. Newbie

Ron G.

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After thee days wondering what happened to my email, I finally recovered it and found this...

Hi Ron,

Your account has been temporarily suspended for security purposes. Our

systems indicate that your Facebook account has been compromised by

cybercriminals attempting to impersonate you. These criminals often will

try to trick your friends into sending them money by claiming that you

are stuck in a far away location and need assistance. It is possible

that your email account was compromised as well. As such, we have sent

this email to all email accounts recently associated with your account.

Obtaining access to a victim's email is one of the primary ways these

cybercriminals have been operating. Please take the following steps to

regain control of your account:

1. Select new, unique passwords for any email addresses associated with

your Facebook account.

2. Respond to this email to get the account verification process

started.

3. Closely follow the instructions provided in our follow up email. We

also encourage you to visit the following page for more information

about Facebook security and how to report suspicious material:

http://www.facebook.com/security

Thanks,

Facebook Security

It seems the guy changed my email password to "yummie" and used his name, Michael O'brien, as my opening line.

If Twinky or any other UKers should run into him, tell him I have a message for him...he also has/had a yahoo.uk email address, too. Maybe ol' Mike was just another victim, I don't know, but if anyone should run into him, we should find out. Maybe we can be penpals.

Anyway, all is well, now, and hopefully, will stay that way.

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Twinky Mentor

Twinky

Posted
Posted

Not seen Michael 0'Brien but if I run into him, shall I ask him for your plane fare so that you can visit this fair isle? If his scam was successful he may have change in his back pocket.

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