Christmas: Scam Artistes Intensify Their ‘Trade’ on Facebook; How Not To Fall A Victim

By Mary Eno-Mfon

Beware. Be warned. Scam artistes, aka 419, are on the prowl looking for whom to dupe, this Christmas seasons.

Here is a common approach used by scam artistes to swindle unsuspecting victims: they hacked into people’s facebook account, and then used the hacked account to solicit for financial assistance from people who are ‘friends’ to the compromised facebook account.

Take the case of The Punch correspondent in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Mr. Chukwudi Akasike. Two months ago, Akasike’s facebook account was hacked into by unknown person(s) who used the account to rush out messages asking people to help with recharge cards to assist him make some urgent calls.

“I knew it! The chap posing as you claimed he was at a meeting and needed airtime. As soon as I wrote back to tell him to try his scam elsewhere he never wrote back,” wrote John Alechenu who works in The Punch newspapers with Akasike. Mr. Alechenu was responding to Chukwudi Akasike’s alert on facebook that his friends should “disregard any message soliciting for GSM credit”.  “The person behind such message is a criminal who hacked into my facebook this morning,” Akasike wrote.

But before Akasike could regain control of his facebook account and sent out the alert, one journalist friend of his on facebook, Mr. Charles Effiong had already been swindled, though he never mentioned the value of the recharge card he sent to the scam artiste.

Effiong wrote tersely on Akasike’s facebook page: “The guy got me sha. No wahala”

How Not To Fall A Victim Of 419 On Facebook

Scam artistes are human beings like you and I, and are also under pressure to ‘tidy up’ some fresh ‘deals’ that could put more money in their pockets this Christmas season. 

Be suspicious of messages making generous offers to you. If a facebook ‘friend’ sends you an ‘urgent’ message asking you for financial help, be smart enough to ask him some questions that will expose if the person using the facebook account is truly the real owner or not. 

 Few days ago, I got an ‘urgent’ request for financial help from an account belonging to a friend, Victor Udoetteh. The guy who sent the message said he was stranded in Enugu, with his wife and children, and that he needed some money to pay his way back to Uyo. I knew it was 419, so I set up a few questions for whoever it was.

“If you are really Victor, you'll know me very well then. Please can you tell me where you and I met and really built our friendship? Is it in the church? Friends of Godswill Akpabio  Organisation? Lions Club?

He waited for some minutes, and then replied, ‘Friends of Godswill Akpabio Organisation’. Wrong answer. Victor and I met and got to know ourselves very well in secondary school, St. Mary’s Science College, Ediene Abak. The scam artiste wasn’t smart enough, you see!

Now, because of the knowledge you’ve gained from reading this article you are one step wiser than the prowling 419. Please you could do well also to share this article with your friends.