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

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.

Comments

Huh?

[Obfuscant]

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.

Re:Huh?

[pr0fessor]

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.

tax for being stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

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.