Attention Facebook users - Pay Pal account is opened
The St. Gallen cantonal police recently received several reports and advertisements about a new form of fraud on Facebook: Those who are not careful end up with a Pay Pal account through which purchases are made at their expense.
And this is how it works according to the cantonal police (Kapo) St. Gallen the criminal action with the respective Facebook account: The perpetrators copy already existing Facebook profiles by downloading the profile and cover picture, thus imitating the existing Facebook profile. From these fake profiles, they then send friend requests to the friends of the real profile. Those who do not notice the scam and accept the friend request sent by the perpetrators are asked for their cell phone number in the next step via a private message. Those who give out their cell phone number are sent a numerical code via SMS. This number code should then be sent back to the fake profile. Of course, this is strongly discouraged. Because:
These cell phone numbers are used to open Pay Pal accounts, which are used to make purchases. These are debited to the telephone bill of the victim. The Kapo St. Gallen warns against such fraudsters and asks the population to be careful.
How to protect yourself?
- Do not forward PIN codes received via SMS
- Do not confirm unknown SMS
- Do not disclose own cell phone number - even upon request
- Restrict Facebook privacy settings as much as possible, i.e. do not allow friends list and cell phone number to be seen publicly
Source: Kapo St. Gallen
