Calling Strangers: Telephone Scam Targets Facebook Users

Sept. 19, 2013 - PRLog -- In one of the latest telephone scams, strangers contact people on Facebook in an attempt to persuade them to call a certain number.

Taking advantage of the fact that many users don't restrict their contact list to people they know in person, the scammers approach their targets with a friend request on Facebook. Once added, the imposters who often go by common female names such as Amanda, Ashley, Jennifer, Jessica, Lisa or Nicole, try to strike up a conversation by sending a text message. Thanking the person in question for accepting the request or complimenting them on their profile picture, they then end the mostly one-sided chat abruptly by claiming that they have to go offline and suggesting that the conversation should be continued via text message or call to a number.

As displayed by many comments on anti-telephone-spam communities such as tellows.com (http://www.tellows.com), one number is often attached to various names and Facebook accounts. By persuading the targeted person to call, the scammers attempt to obtain telephone numbers and further personal information to use for scams or sell to call centers and telemarketers among others. In some cases, they will charge a high fee for the call or forward it to another number.

In order to avoid the risk of falling a victim to telephone scams, you should never call an unknown number without being presented with a plausible reason as to why, especially if the call is requested by a complete stranger. Additionally, if you are a user of Facebook or any other social networking site, be careful who you add to your contact list and thereby provide with access to personal information.

More information: http://blog.tellows.com

About Tellows:

The Tellows anti-spam website is available in about 20 countries in their respective languages and encourages users worlwide to share information about criminal phone spam methods. The phone number community makes it possible for consumers to enter comments on numbers, besides others, on www.tellows.de, www.tellows.com, www.tellows.co.uk, www.tellows.co.nz, www.tellows.fr, www.tellows.es and www.tellows.it. In this way, Tellows shall prevent consumers from being deceived.