I got a message from one of my friends Sal on facebook chat. Sal said he was stuck in London (UK) and was in need of some urgent help. For a second I was surprised, but then it struck me that I was having coffee with Sal 2 days before and he never mentioned anything about London. Then I knew it was someone scamming, but I decided to play along to get any info I could on this guy. Following is the transcript of my chat with him
REMEMBER THAT HE IS "NOT" ACTUALLY SAL DE SANTIS:
ear Chat History
Couldn't retrieve chat history
8:23pmSal
hey
are you there
8:23pmSid
hey
8:24pmSal
need your urgent help
8:24pmSid
yeah whts up
8:24pmSal
I'm stranded in london
got mugged at gun point last nigh in london
8:24pmSid
london uk?
8:24pmSal
yeah
all cash on me are stolen including my credit card
my return flight leaves in 3hrs and i need to settle my hotel bills
8:26pmSid
call me
8:26pmSal
my cell phone was stolen
i would have call you if i can
8:26pmSid
get to a pay phone give me the num and i'll call u
8:27pmSal
it late here already
8:27pmSid
ok, wht can i do?
8:27pmSal
need you to loan me some cash
8:28pmSid
sure
want my crd card #?
how mch do u need?
8:28pmSal
you can use it to wire cash to me directly
$700
8:28pmSid
how do i do that?
8:28pmSal
check-www.westernunion.com
let me know as soon as you on the site
8:28pmSid
ok and?
ok i m there
8:29pmSal
choose the location you sending from
8:29pmSid
done
wt now?
8:30pmSal
choose my location which is London,United Kingdom
Sid
done
i need to leav esoon, can u hurry
8:30pmSal
choose money in mintues and register an with them
8:31pmSid
wht is that?
8:32pmSid
can u hurry, or send me the instructions i will do it in a few mins...i need to go
Sid
yeah id di that
8:33pmSal
you need to register
8:33pmSid
i am registered
now what?
Sal
you need to register
8:33pmSid
i am registered
now what?
8:34pmSal
you can go on with the rest
check the instruction
8:34pmSid
but how does it get to you? send it to your name that's it?
Sal
Sal De Santis,London,United Kingdom
that all you need
8:35pmSid
alright, coming ur way buddy, hold on
8:35pmSal
ok
8:35pmSid
if there are other problems let me know, i m sending it right now, don't worry
END OF CHAT
Obviously I called Sal later and told him of this. I am sharing this (with the real Sal's permission) so people are aware. I know man of you must already be aware of these scams.
My first hypothesis is that Sal's account has NOT been hacked, but rather someone has found a way of popping up chat windows of friends of people who are logged in, without actually logging in as the friend.
Hopefully f/b will fix this soon enough.
-Sid
