By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — A 42-year-old Melvindale man was scammed out of $600 Sept. 10 by a social media con artist who was impersonating one of the victim’s Facebook friends and claimed he needed help.
The con began with a Whatsapp message with the victim’s friend’s profile picture on it. The caller said that Facebook had locked his page, and he need three friends to vouch for him to have the page restored.
The man was then told to log into his own Facebook account and follow specific instructions, after which he received a call from an alleged representative from Facebook. He was instructed to buy several gift cards using his debit card, and to read the code numbers over the phone.
Later, the man became suspicious, and discovered that $600 was missing from the bank account associated with the debit card he used to buy the gift cards.
He notified his bank, canceled the debit card, and said he would file a claim with his bank once he has a police report number, per his financial institution’s request.