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Fake Mark Zuckerbergs Scam Facebook Users Out of Their Cash (nytimes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the nigerian-prince dept.

Hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts have been parading as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, tricking vulnerable individuals into sending large amounts of money in order to collect bogus lottery winnings, the New York Times reports [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled]. From a report: An examination by The New York Times found 205 accounts impersonating Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg on Facebook and its photo-sharing site Instagram, not including fan pages or satire accounts, which are permitted under the company's rules. At least 51 of the impostor accounts, including 43 on Instagram, were lottery scams like the one that fooled Mr. Bernhardt.

The fake Zuckerbergs and faux Sandbergs have proliferated on Facebook and Instagram, despite the presence of Facebook groups that track the scams and complaints about the trick dating to at least 2010. A day after The Times informed Facebook of its findings, the company removed all 96 impostor Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg accounts on its Facebook site. It had left up all but one of the 109 fakes on Instagram, but removed them after this article was published.

59 comments

  1. satire accounts are ok? by vux984 · · Score: 1

    " satire accounts, which are permitted under the company's rules. "

    Really? I thought they had a real name policy that would have prevented 'satire accounts' using other peoples names.

    Is that not the case?

    1. Re:satire accounts are ok? by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      You can lie about who you are in the public-facing profile data as long as it falls under the legal definition of satirical use, but you still are required to give your real legal name to the sign-up form when the account is initially created.

    2. Re:satire accounts are ok? by gnick · · Score: 1

      TFA says both that satire accounts are allowed and that users must use their real names. Google led me to a couple of FB pages citing their "real name" policy and their policy against maintaining more than one "personal" account. I couldn't quickly find any mention of satire accounts being allowed.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    3. Re:satire accounts are ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " satire accounts, which are permitted under the company's rules. "

      Really? I thought they had a real name policy that would have prevented 'satire accounts' using other peoples names.

      Is that not the case?

      They're making Zuckerberg look GOOD.

      It'd take the real Zuckerberg a few billion years of evolution to reach the level of ethical sophistication required to pull off a Nigerian 419 scam.

  2. How do we know they're fake? by olsmeister · · Score: 2

    If I was Zuck or Sandberg, this is exactly how I would scam people to deflect the blame.

    1. Re:How do we know they're fake? by gnick · · Score: 2

      If you were Zuck or Sandberg, you wouldn't need to. The scam they've got going is much better and more-or-less legal.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:How do we know they're fake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wells Fargo didn't need to create millions of fake accounts, but they did.

    3. Re:How do we know they're fake? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      If I was Zuck or Sandberg, this is exactly how I would scam people to deflect the blame.

      Came here to say this. Sounds like something the real 'Bergs would do.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    4. Re:How do we know they're fake? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 1

      tricking vulnerable individuals into sending large amounts of money

      So "vulnerable" is the new term for "stupid"?

    5. Re:How do we know they're fake? by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Please tell me you posted this as a joke. (Just in case it went over anyone else's head; Wells Fargo was recently in the news getting caught proving that "phishing scam" and "actually from the company" are not mutually exclusive.)

    6. Re: How do we know they're fake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correction: rogue employees of Wells Fargo.

    7. Re:How do we know they're fake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I was Zuck or Sandberg, this is exactly how I would scam people to deflect the blame.

      There were too ethical and nice.

      The real Zuck would have said:

      "Hey dumb fuck, give me your money just like you've given me all your privacy!"

    8. Re: How do we know they're fake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Currently there is no proof that management had explicitly ordered the creation of duplicate accounts at Wells Fargo. But I suspect that one day we'll find out this was a top-down scheme orchestrated and encouraged by the management.

    9. Re:How do we know they're fake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Stupid has pretty much always been subset of vulnerable.

    10. Re:How do we know they're fake? by PPH · · Score: 2

      Some outfit calling themselves the IRS is sending me letters, telling me that I owe thousands in back taxes.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    11. Re:How do we know they're fake? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      At least they asked before opening the account!

    12. Re:How do we know they're fake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do they tell you? Maybe I should just mail in a piece of paper that says "just tell me how much I owe"

  3. How do we know they're fake? by greenwow · · Score: 2

    A coworker got hit by what looked like a phishing scam to open an account with Wells Fargo with a high monthly fee, and it turned out to actually be from the company.

  4. Huh? by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Informative
    If someone thinks that Mark Zuckerberg will be sending them a notice that they won a magical lottery that they hadn't bought an entry in to begin with, then there is nothing that can be done to solve the real problem. (Hint: the real problem is not that Facebook allows people to use the name Mark Zuckerberg.)

    A side-problem is the proliferation of professional services where organizations outsource their tasks like email, timesheets, etc, to, so it truly is becoming impossible to determine what is and is not a phishing attack. My university uses outsourced timesheet entry services, so you have to log in using your university credentials to do your monthly timesheet. They use an outsourced mailing list to send donation requests from the University Foundation. The e-purchasing website is off-site. Even if you personally never buy anything through the e-purchasing site, you get email regarding those purchases that way.

    The only way to know a phish these days is because of the poor grammar and spelling. If the scammers ever hire native English speakers to write their phishes, we're all toast.

    1. Re:Huh? by pr0fessor · · Score: 4, Funny

      My mother got a message from someone claiming to be an employee of facebook saying she had won $10,000 and wanted her bank account information so they could direct deposit the winnings.

      She of course didn't respond knowing it was a scam then a couple days later got a message from someone claiming to be with FBI and was trying to catch the scamer. The supposed FBI agent wanted her to give them her bank account information and do what the scamer asked so they could trace the scamer and arrest them.

      She also didn't fall for that though she did decide to play with the supposed FBI and asked them to provide a case number for the other FBI agent who had been assigned the case after she initially reported it. Then sent a message to the original scam account asking if they could send a check instead.

      They both stopped responding to her.

    2. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If someone thinks that Mark Zuckerberg will be sending them a notice that they won a magical lottery that they hadn't bought an entry in to begin with, then there is nothing that can be done to solve the real problem. (Hint: the real problem is not that Facebook allows people to use the name Mark Zuckerberg.)

      Like the other article about some "financial expert" complaining Facebook was allowing ads that misrepresent him, you basically hit the name on the head. Facebook will use both incidents to push their AI objective and this smells like a paid ad for it. Guess people got tired of hearing "think of the children" so they moved on to other strawmen.

    3. Re:Huh? by Carewolf · · Score: 2

      If someone thinks that Mark Zuckerberg will be sending them a notice that they won a magical lottery that they hadn't bought an entry in to begin with, then there is nothing that can be done to solve the real problem. (Hint: the real problem is not that Facebook allows people to use the name Mark Zuckerberg.)

      A side-problem is the proliferation of professional services where organizations outsource their tasks like email, timesheets, etc, to, so it truly is becoming impossible to determine what is and is not a phishing attack. My university uses outsourced timesheet entry services, so you have to log in using your university credentials to do your monthly timesheet. They use an outsourced mailing list to send donation requests from the University Foundation. The e-purchasing website is off-site. Even if you personally never buy anything through the e-purchasing site, you get email regarding those purchases that way.

      The only way to know a phish these days is because of the poor grammar and spelling. If the scammers ever hire native English speakers to write their phishes, we're all toast.

      I keep getting emails from a domain called paypal-communications.com.. There is no way I am responding to any emails that doesnt come and have links back to the from the primary domain...

      And people use google, facebook or twitter accounts to log on to unrelated websites. When you should NEVER give your password to another site when you are not on that site...

      Web-security is truly fucked and the big guys are the ones fucking it up.

    4. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hit the name on the head

      If all you have is a scammer, everything looks like a name.

  5. tax for being stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was duped as well when I was 7 years old. There was a newspaper math puzzle which claimed a "free" prize to reader who send the correct solution. I solved the puzzle and my parents were so excited, they sent it to the scammer. We got a letter saying that I have won portable stereo system and need to send some money to cover for the tax. After we sent that, they asked more money for shipping. By that time, my dad had talked to few people and he was told that this is a scam so we didn't send the shipping money. This was in 70s. Scams like this are happening for ages and stupid people fall for it.

    1. Re:tax for being stupid by nitehawk214 · · Score: 2

      I don't blame a 7 year old for getting duped, but your parents are pretty stupid.

      I can remember asking my mom, "Why don't you reply to these Publishers Clearinghouse letters? They say you won a million dollars. Look, they have pictures of them giving giant checks to people. It has to be real!"

      It was when I learned that, yes, people would just lie to you to make money. She didn't have an answer as to why it was legal. I still have no idea why.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    2. Re:tax for being stupid by k6mfw · · Score: 1

      ... Publishers Clearinghouse letters? They say you won a million dollars.

      I think they are real but you have to live in a home with a yard to doorway (and in a neighborhood not crowded with parked cars) that provides clearance for camera crews along with lighting and soundman to get the great footage. If you live in a condo or apartment cluster, they will not award you because hallways and stairs impede camera crews.

      --
      mfwright@batnet.com
    3. Re:tax for being stupid by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      I can remember asking my mom, "Why don't you reply to these Publishers Clearinghouse letters? They say you won a million dollars. Look, they have pictures of them giving giant checks to people. It has to be real!"

      It was when I learned that, yes, people would just lie to you to make money. She didn't have an answer as to why it was legal. I still have no idea why.

      Because they actually are a legitimate company? And they actually DO award someone a million bucks?

      Publishers Clearing House is a direct marketing company - basically they allowed you to subscribe to a few magazines for a single price, usually at a lower rate than subscribing individually. The sweepstakes part was really just a way to gauge interest - if you went through the effort, they assumed you didn't mind and continued to send you stuff.

      Now, that didn't mean they didn't do scummy things - like making you believe subscribing would increase your chances or that you were closer than you think to winning. And of course, they bought all the mailing lists they can.

      But the sweepstakes were real, and they'd arrive at your door and hand you the check, without demanding any money in return in "taxes" or "handling" (they took that off the money they gave you).

      Thus, as far as things went, they were actually legitimate

    4. Re:tax for being stupid by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      Except they would send letters out claiming you actually did win. (with maybe some fine print saying actually you didn't win)

      On the front "CONGRATULATIONS YOU WIN 1000000 DOLLARS"
      Inside the letter in fine print "is what you will hear if you actually win". Legal or not, this is how you trick old people in to things.

      And, as k6mfw pointed out, ever notice how those commercials with Ed McMahon were always some suburban home with a family with 2.3 children and plenty of room for a camera crew? I am not saying they were fake, I doubt they could hide that. But there is no way in hell those were random.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    5. Re:tax for being stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah. The prizes are real. They'll pay to clear the street for the photo-op, or do the photo op at the apartment stairwell door, or even just film you at some random house. The real deal is that if you don't order any magazines you have 0 chance of winning. Even if you do order your chance is no greater than your chance of winning a state lottery, which is slim on the order of millions to one. Publishers Clearing House ends up writing off the winnings as advertising money.
      Meanwhile lots of suckers buy magazines hoping they'll win.

  6. Real one scams you out of your privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So the real Zuckerberg scams you out of your privacy and sells you out to the highest bidder. Who’s worse?

  7. Question has to be asked by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Looking over the many pictures we have now, *is* there a real Zuckerberg?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  8. Wait, I was told I had to use my real name by Holi · · Score: 1

    But fake accounts are ok!? Why were people forced to switch from pseudonyms to real names?

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  9. call me a troll... by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    ...but really, I've had enough about trying to protect stupid people from their stupidity.

    "...tricking vulnerable individuals into sending large amounts of money in order to collect bogus lottery winnings..."

    If "fake Mark Zuckerberg" cons you out of your cash, tough shit.

    Look at it this way, for the bulk of human history, if you were that stupid you'd be dead and eaten by a tiger or a bear or fallen off a mountain. Now you just lost some money. Call it a win for you.

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re: call me a troll... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      It's about a trust based society. Trust based societies are wonderful places to live. They're the nice places on the planet. People trust each other, and things are great because of it. Non trust based societies are shitholes. People will cheat each other without a second thought, and everyone suffers. When people from these societies come to ours, they think we're gigantic idiots and immediately set about ruining us with cheating, lying, scamming, and so on. They laugh because we're such idiots. You know, like you're doing now.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re: call me a troll... by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      Protecting yourself IS YOUR PROBLEM.

      Seriously, I can't think of a more fundamental lesson from Darwin.

      I frankly don't want to live in a society of gullible sheep.

      --
      -Styopa
    3. Re:call me a troll... by oakgrove · · Score: 1

      Here's the issue. Peoples' propensity to fall for this kind of thing almost certainly falls on a standard distribution. And like any distribution, there are outliers. I believe in personal responsibility as much as the next guy but the sad fact is, some people are just not equipped to deal with scammers. And we can't just hang them out to dry.

      --
      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
    4. Re: call me a troll... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When people from these societies come to ours, they think we're gigantic idiots and immediately set about ruining us with cheating, lying, scamming, and so on. They laugh because we're such idiots. You know, like you're doing now.

      And the quick fix for that is racism, fascism and closing borders. Ugly things can be useful sometimes.

    5. Re: call me a troll... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You got things backwards bro. It's the non-trust based societies that are great places to live. It's when people don't trust each other or the government that we create systems with checks and balances to ensure everybody plays fair.

      Trust-based society are the ones who trusts and loves Great Leader, wholly believing that government can do no wrong. It's the trust-based societies who willingly give up their guns and rights and other freedoms because they just trust the government and the cops to protect them.

  10. See also: Martin Lewis by shilly · · Score: 1

    https://blog.moneysavingexpert...

    1. Re:See also: Martin Lewis by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      My Friend Irma was a pretty good film.

  11. "Fake" by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    "fake" Zuckerbergs and Sandbergs, yeah... right. Denying it, are they? I think the cops need to investigate those two more closely.

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
  12. Not news? by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    There an old saying: "A fool and his money are soon parted"... and there are a lot of fools in this world.
    Social networking services that market to the masses will attract a lot of them.

  13. Mr. Bernhardt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know who he is but he doesn't deserve to have the money he lost to this scam. Its an unjust world when those that are greedy and stupid become wealthy.

  14. Which has done more harm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which has done more harm, the fake Zuckerbergs or the real Zuckerberg, who has fought hard to turn the internet into the world's biggest mass surveillance apparatus to line his own pockets? Who has fought to establish censorship control over socializing, with that control under his own thumb?

    I'll take my chances with the fake ones.

  15. How does this still happen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's sad that these people have lost their money, but this type of scam, where you have to pay some sort of fee to receive your "winnings", is so transparent you wonder how people keep falling for it, especially when said lottery is one you've never heard of, much less entered.

    Sure, Facebook should clean out the fake Zucks, etc, but these folks sound like they're one Nigerian Prince away from falling for another scam.

  16. Hardly takes Zuckerberg's promised AI to stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Over and over in the hearings, Zuckerberg promised that somehow artificial intelligence would help them manage Facebook -- and they can't even find fake accounts under his and Sandberg's name? More proof that they simply don't care about what happens on their system.

  17. Outsourcing by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    With this and similar articles coming out all the time ("we found X and reported it to Facebook, who then deleted X"), it seems Facebook has figured out the value in outsourcing its audits. For free even. Zuckerberg's "AI" is here a decade early.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  18. LOL! by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

    Facebooktards never learn!

  19. Fake Mark Zuckerbergs? by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Is there any other kind?

  20. The more things change... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > If someone thinks that Mark Zuckerberg will be sending them a notice that they won a magical lottery that they hadn't bought an entry in to begin with, then there is nothing that can be done to solve the real problem

    I remember back when "Bill Gates" was sending those out for the "Microsoft lottery."

  21. Good Job That Bill Gates... by Luthair · · Score: 1

    still owes them all that money for forwarding those emails!

  22. how do they fall for this? by jlv · · Score: 1

    "I got all excited. Wouldn’t you?” said Mr. Bernhardt, 67, a retired forklift driver and Army veteran in Ham Lake, Minn. He stayed up until dawn trading messages with the person on the other end. To obtain his winnings, he was told, he first needed to send $200 in iTunes gift cards.

    I'd have sent the gift cards, I'm sure, but I'd already sent them all to the IRS to avoid them rushing over to my house to arrest me.

  23. Suckerbergs by kackle · · Score: 1

    Are the victims called "suckerbergs"?

  24. Well again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck Zuck!

  25. Morons Get Scammed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But but but Internet!

    Fuck you /. Youre so fucking irrelevant.

  26. See the contradiction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... sending large amounts of money in order to collect bogus lottery winnings ...

    Why would you send money to someone who has your money?

    Why would you send (your) log-in details to someone who has the whole computer?

    I tire of people asking "why?" but when it involves money and privacy, saying "I'm stupid; tell me what you are doing" is vital.

  27. All is as it should be... by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    This is just Baby Jesus' gentle way of letting you know you have too much money.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  28. INVASION of the Suckerberg Judenoids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Khazar Talmudic Jews believe this of all they call goyim/gentiles (non-jews): Jews = biggest racists of all for which they "jew guilt" you for no less & you can't be racist vs. a religious cult like them (though they accuse YOU of it)!

    They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were these nations banishing them a lie? Argentines in 1940 under Peron, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms, Spanish inquistion & Spain 1492 and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Driven into DESERTS ages ago! Don't wonder why after all those exilings above. Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it (which JEWgle's JEWTube has blocked, there are links below though that are not blocked proving it is truth) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zMVZ8HnFI/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud. This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple & they killed him for it. Jeremiah did the same to them also + the Essenes could not stand them either breaking away from the pharisee corruption):

    Mark Zuckerberg who STOLE facebook's code from the Winklevoss twins (who dusted him in court on it) calling his users "DUMB FUCKS" & spied on his collegiate classmates via 'fakebook', home of bots and spying/tracking you, now in court FRYING (rightfully so). He also PAID OFF the courts (by political contributions like Jew AIPAC does) on the MAJORITY of the council judges there. He STILL had to apologize!

    Maria Abramovic satanist spirit cooker pal of Hillary Clinton the Voodoo queen is a jew https://www.google.com/search?...

    Like Hillary Clinton's mentor Saul Alinsky author of rules for radicals book dedicated to Lucifer

    John Podesta Hillary's pal again, is another JUDE with a pedophile brother (both = satanists too imo).

    "Most Jews do not like to admit it, but our god is Lucifer so I wasnâ(TM)t lying â" and we are his chosen people. Lucifer is very much aliveâ Harold Rosenthal http://www.thetruthseeker.co.u...

    Jewish rabbi openly admits to satan worship use white children's blood they kill for passover bread (which THIS video covers in detail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU8Y1743QoY/ & how they ran the black slave trade + how they say a prayer to KILL US ALL (goyim) during passover), infiltrating and subverting the catholic church, creating the Jesuit order https://www.youtube.com/watch?... and https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
    or https://www.youtube.com/watch?... too!

    Barbara Spectre, a jew, tells everyone it's jews orchestrating the muslim migrant problem in Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFE0qAiofMQ/ (now blocked by JEWgle JEWTube, but this one is not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BKDj_1vVU/ ). No migrant raping of women in Poland. Tons in Sweden. Do the math. Use common-sense. This is to get muslims and other goyim/gentiles to wipe one another out as incompatible cultures that will clash and always have.

    Rabbi A. Finkelstein ADMITS their greatest enemies are ARABS and WHITES (blacks too) whom they wish to k