“My Facebook Nightmare” by Mark Neely is a play-by-play account of how a scam artist hacked the author’s Facebook account and used it to solicit money from his friends. The story teaches us to be skeptical of strange requests over the Internet, even from friends.
Hacked Facebook account
Mark Neely recently had his Facebook account hijacked and used to solicit money from his friends. The hacker changed the account password and reset the e-mail address, preventing Mark from requesting a password reset. The hacker then began contacting Mark’s friends with a bogus story about being robbed at gunpoint in London, and requested that people help by wiring money to a Western Union account.
Trouble contacting FB staff
Mark called and texted many of his friends to let them know that he was OK, not in London, and did not need any financial assistance. This still did not stop the hacker from abusing his Facebook account, and getting in touch with Facebook staff in order to put a stop to this nonsense proved very difficult. Many days passed before Mark was able to get the attention of anyone at Facebook HQ.
Lesson learned: be skeptical
Mark’s story teaches us that we should be skeptical of strange requests received online, even if they come from friends. Mark’s pals did the right thing — they called him up before wiring any money, preventing the hackers from profiting from the stolen Facebook account. Even if a message appears to come from a trusted source over a social network, their account may have been hijacked or their computer may be infected with a trojan horse.
