Has anyone pretended to be your friend on FB to tell you that won money?

[roadman65]

I recently thought my friend John had accidentally defriended me and wanted to re-friend me, so I obliged.  After all it happens sometimes to even me, where I tried to get some old acquaintance of mine to stop posting on my wall as he would post absurd comments.  In doing so, I accidentally defriended him.

Well anyway, I though John did so, but when John told me that he saw my name on a list for the Steve Harvey Foundation I became suspicious to say the least.   After all previously John witnessed me almost get scammed by a former classmate of ours from High School who used the same MO and verbage " I saw you name on the list when I picked up my half grand" I knew something was up.  Then I googled Steve Harvey Foundation and read what it was about and then later saw my friend John had two FB accounts and one photo had a white dove in his photo.  I then PM him to find out it wasn't him.

As far as the other former classmate, I caught on when he tried to ask me for my password to Facebook.  I, of course, then blocked him and also found out that this other guy was obnoxious in HS and not of good character even then.   So I thought it was either him or another con man or both.  Of course, I am never going to give out passwords and such.

However, I am surprised that there actually are people who would be willing to give out personal information, for the fact that these scammers do such things.  I would figure that is a no brainer, but then again so did i think that no one who didn't read a large overhead road sign on a strange freeway was a no brainer until I became a toll collector years ago either.

Has anyone tried to pretend to be your friend who was not?

[Max Rockatansky]

My Aunt seems to be the target of fake/cloned social media accounts for some reason.  I get requests from said scam accounts all the time.

[NWI_Irish96]

I get two kinds of fake friend requests on FB:

One is a very new account from what purports to be a very attractive woman in her 20s, wearing skimpy attire. Pretty clearly no such woman is interested in me, so I just delete these.

The second is also a very new account that is spoofing an actual friend of mine, usually using the actual person's profile pic as their own. I report those and delete them.

Never had anybody suggest that I'd won money though.

[roadman65]

I hate the ones where an attractive woman you don't even know requests friend. I always ignore.

Then in my text messages I get someone looking for a Fred, Alex, Paul, etc. I first responded with no one here by those names to then hear them respond " Oh I'm sorry.  Oh BTW what's your name, I am a lonely gal and could use the chat"  Of course that I can tell is a phisher and told her to phish somewhere else.
I've been told the Phillipines is where most of those type of texts originate and it seems to be a big scam going there. Young girls looking for rich US sugar daddy uses wrong number texts to grab attention to one.  Then they find one who gives them the money they need this way. 

Sad it happens and sadder that guys fall for it.  I now don't even respond at all to these.

[formulanone]

My Aunt seems to be the target of fake/cloned social media accounts for some reason.

I've had two relatives that have fallen for that (not sure how). I contacted each by phone, and reported each of the "dupe"-licate accounts.

I don't get many questionable attempts; maybe one has tried in a dozen years. I'm not terribly active on FB.

[GaryV]

I don't do FB.

But my wife has gotten friend requests from people who have been friends for a long time. Obviously a spam/scam - the friend's account probably was hacked.

[Rothman]

Boomers' accounts get spoofed and they claim they've been hacked.

For some reason, I only get a couple of the fake Barbie account requests a year or so.

[JayhawkCO]

One is a very new account from what purports to be a very attractive woman in her 20s, wearing skimpy attire. Pretty clearly no such woman is interested in me, so I just delete these.

It's always funny when I get these and I check to see if we have any mutual friends and it's always the same 3-4 guys that are magically friends with what is clearly a scam. I (mildly) feel bad for them.

[In_Correct]

I recently thought my friend John had accidentally defriended me and wanted to re-friend me, so I obliged.  After all it happens sometimes to even me, where I tried to get some old acquaintance of mine to stop posting on my wall as he would post absurd comments.  In doing so, I accidentally defriended him.

Well anyway, I though John did so, but when John told me that he saw my name on a list for the Steve Harvey Foundation I became suspicious to say the least.   After all previously John witnessed me almost get scammed by a former classmate of ours from High School who used the same MO and verbage " I saw you name on the list when I picked up my half grand" I knew something was up.  Then I googled Steve Harvey Foundation and read what it was about and then later saw my friend John had two FB accounts and one photo had a white dove in his photo.  I then PM him to find out it wasn't him.

As far as the other former classmate, I caught on when he tried to ask me for my password to Facebook.  I, of course, then blocked him and also found out that this other guy was obnoxious in HS and not of good character even then.   So I thought it was either him or another con man or both.  Of course, I am never going to give out passwords and such.

However, I am surprised that there actually are people who would be willing to give out personal information, for the fact that these scammers do such things.  I would figure that is a no brainer, but then again so did I think that no one who didn't read a large overhead road sign on a strange freeway was a no brainer until I became a toll collector years ago either.

Has anyone tried to pretend to be your friend who was not?

I recently thought my friend John had accidentally defriended me and wanted to re-friend me, so I obliged.  After all it happens sometimes to even me, where I tried to get some old acquaintance of mine to stop posting on my wall as he would post absurd comments.  In doing so, I accidentally defriended him.

Other people's nonsense is a perfect reason why I stopped bothering with News Feed & Weed.

However, I am surprised that there actually are people who would be willing to give out personal information, for the fact that these scammers do such things.

Why ?!

There is an " e - commerce " " market place " where peoples are selling ... Things ... on these Platforms. Their " Customers " are willing to be very dumb.

Even on You Tube there are Obvious Scams such as " Dread Guy " renowned for the video where he made " Nysheem " run to the stop sign while wearing socks, and later saying he is " Giving Away All Of [ His ] Equipment. ... Message Me On Instagram. " ... The Dollar Amounts reported are ludicrous to sue him for. It took him years before peoples Exposed him.

Since then, the amount of Scammers has increased.

I would figure that is a no brainer, but then again so did I think that no one who didn't read a large overhead road sign on a strange freeway was a no brainer until I became a toll collector years ago either.

Has anyone tried to pretend to be your friend who was not?

If they even say " Friend " I believe they are trolling. And even worse is the term " Bro " which is now the same meaning as " Jerk " ... They say it means " Junior Educated Rich Kid " ... I believe " Bro " means " Breaks Rules Often ". It sounds similarly to " Brother ", a word that Eastern Cultures and Native American Cultures takes seriously. Example: If you save their lives, they might adopt you. If that helps describe the difference. In fact, I do not even trust when peoples say: " Hello. " or equivalent. They might be after some thing. It is best if they say what they want immediately instead of pretending.

[ Anti ] Social Mediums were never that good. Now they are agonizing. After I was greeted by a Disfigured Blob demanding I accept their Terms Of Service, I have left Fecebook and have not checked them since then. I deactivated my final Instagram and I am unable to reactivate it. What Ever. Good Riddance. I also deleted Snap Chat. ... I wished I deleted or at least abandoned them years ago. I would have been able to spend time wisely instead.

I have since decided to talk to peoples that prefer to exist in the real world. That is not many peoples. However, quality time is worth it.

[US 89]

I've gotten a handful of follow requests on Instagram from accounts like "I just won the lottery, if you are one of the first 1,000 people to follow me back, I will give you $100,000!!!" or something of the sort.

There are so many bots out there it's not even funny. For a while, I would get a follow request on Instagram once every few days from an account with an attractive girl profile picture and a bio that consisted only of an age (always in the 18-21 range) and a country flag emoji. It got old real fast. I still get a bunch of that type of thing but that particular pattern was especially annoying.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've gotten a handful of follow requests on Instagram from accounts like "I just won the lottery, if you are one of the first 1,000 people to follow me back, I will give you $100,000!!!" or something of the sort.

There are so many bots out there it's not even funny. For a while, I would get a follow request on Instagram once every few days from an account with an attractive girl profile picture and a bio that consisted only of an age (always in the 18-21 range) and a country flag emoji. It got old real fast. I still get a bunch of that type of thing but that particular pattern was especially annoying.

I do get way more scam accounts on Instagram trying to follow me or hit me up from scam BS. 

[In_Correct]

I can not stress enough the importance of understanding the amount of Scams and why they happen.

Two Examples I remembered:

The Sovereign Citizen Movement Challenge. This is where they, as individuals ( It is not called Sovereign Citizen Society. ) Run Amok and Commit Crimes ( Breaks Rules Often ) needlessly. This is why they do not want Government Identification. They preach this nonsense yet forget that Social Mediums often require Government Identification. Scammers tell peoples what they like to hear. It is not good to provide Sensitive Information. However, why do they make exceptions for Social Mediums ?!

There is also The One Chip Challenge Movement. I am Holistic, not unlike Manjula's Kitchen. Do not try to explain; It shall never make sense why peoples wished to spend on ONE Chip ... and ... To Deliberately Poison Them Selves. 

Every body wants to win a popularity contest. That is why there are many peoples being targeted by Scammers.

[Rothman]

Some days, I live for InCorrect's posts.

[GaryV]

Some days, I live for InCorrect's posts.

Some day, I hope to understand them.

[hbelkins]

I'm pretty good at detecting spoofed or cloned accounts from people who are already friends. Although I do have friends who have had several profiles because they sign up for Facebook with their cellphone numbers, and have changed phone numbers several times. One of the minor things that bother me is when people say they've been hacked when they've really been spoofed or cloned. Changing your password won't fix anything. You're better off changing your profile picture so the spoofer is still using your old pic while you're using a new, updated one.

Most of those who are spoofed/cloned have a couple of things in common: Most of their posts are set to "Public," meaning anyone can view them; and their friends list is also viewable by everyone. Most of my posts are limited not only to friends, but to some subsets of friends (I use friend lists and also have a pretty robust "restricted" list, the members of which cannot see any of my posts although they remain friends). I've never been spoofed on Facebook, although someone did start up a fake Instagram account in my name not long after FB took over IG. (I don't do Instagram).

The fake messages I do get are usually about some sort of government grant program that I need to apply for because the messenger got a bunch of money through it. When they start that nonsense, they get reported and blocked.

[MikieTimT]

No.  I'm only antisocially networked.  Never had an account with anything other than LinkedIn or YouVersion that has social networking features, and I don't post anything to them.  This forum is literally all that I care to post anything about after dinking with other people's computer problems all day.

[Takumi]

Some days, I live for InCorrect's posts.

Some day, I hope to understand them.

I can't tell if he's 17 or 71.

[J N Winkler]

In regard to the OP, I don't think I've ever received a friend request in connection with a cash-based scam.

I get two kinds of fake friend requests on FB:

One is a very new account from what purports to be a very attractive woman in her 20s, wearing skimpy attire. Pretty clearly no such woman is interested in me, so I just delete these.

I get these every so often and respond by reporting and blocking.  They're about as appealing as "Wanna have a good time?" shouted from the curb.

The second is also a very new account that is spoofing an actual friend of mine, usually using the actual person's profile pic as their own. I report those and delete them.

I see these every so often and usually find an indication action has already been taken, e.g. a post on the real profile along the lines of "I've been hacked; any friend requests you get are not actually from me."  I actively don't want to be up-to-date enough on Facebook that I see a fake profile before anyone else does, in case I inadvertently report the real profile and knock it offline for a period of time.

Most of those who are spoofed/cloned have a couple of things in common: Most of their posts are set to "Public," meaning anyone can view them; and their friends list is also viewable by everyone. Most of my posts are limited not only to friends, but to some subsets of friends (I use friend lists and also have a pretty robust "restricted" list, the members of which cannot see any of my posts although they remain friends). I've never been spoofed on Facebook, although someone did start up a fake Instagram account in my name not long after FB took over IG. (I don't do Instagram.)

I don't think I have ever been spoofed.  I now hardly post anything on Facebook (most of my activity consists of comments on other people's posts), but back when I was still posting reasonably frequently, I rarely set a post to be publicly viewable.  I've considered curating friends lists and realized I don't want to invest the time--in general, I feel that the easier it is to walk away from the orange-haired guy's plantation, the happier I will be.

Though I have accounts on Twitter and Instagram, my recent activity on both has been essentially nil.  I'm not looking to toil on those farms either.

[roadman65]

The thing is the first scam artist I encountered was friends with people that I am friends with.

[Henry]

I've had the same thing happen to me too, so I'm decreasing my social media usage as a whole as a precaution.

[epzik8]

My closest thing to this is that I get emails telling me I've won a Craftsman or DeWalt power tools set.