Woman loses US$4,000 in Facebook scam

A woman has been bilked out of US$4,000 by scammers who used a hacked Facebook page of one of her friends.

Jayne Scherrman lost the money after a Facebook friend of hers, Grace Parry, had her log-in details stolen. Parry's friends started receiving messages saying that Parry and her husband had been robbed in London and needed funds to get home.

Scherrman received several of the messages, as well as a call from a man with a British accent claiming to be an immigration official.

"He said the woman (Parry) and her husband were being detained and that more money was needed to fly them home," police spokesman Jason Selzer told the Press Association.

"She sent three different wire transfers to London."

She sent out the money in three batches in order to help out her friend. Meanwhile Parry was trying to get out the word that she had been hacked, but was locked out of her account.

“The sad truth is that people are far too trusting of messages they receive via social networks,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant with Sophos.

“Just because it appears to come from a friend, doesn't mean that it's a friend who typed and sent it. It's perfectly possible that your online friends have had their account passwords stolen and have lost control of their Facebook profiles.”