A scam circulating on Facebook didn't fool one user who now wants to warn others not to fall prey. Susan Jhun filed the following NY1 for You report.
It was a Facebook message from someone pretending to be Joanne Ribaudo's cousin, using her name and picture.
"She said I won $150,000, it's a secret lottery," Ribaudo said. "I knew immediately, this isn't my cousin."
She knew it wasn't from the way she spoke, but Ribaudo played along anyway to see what the scam was.
The person told her to text representatives for Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, who was apparently running the lottery, and tell them she wanted to claim her money.
"They said I would have to pay the UPS men, this is their quote, $1,500, and that would give me $150,000 delivered to my door. Or I could decide to give them $3,000 and that would give me $300,000," Ribaudo said.
Ribaudo was then instructed to wire the money. At that point, Ribaudo called us, and we contacted Facebook. A spokesperson told us Facebook is aware of these lottery scams, which are often carried out from accounts impersonating someone you know, or fake profiles pretending to represent an organization like Facebook. The messages claim you're among winners of a lottery and you can receive your money for a small advance fee.
The spokesperson said the site provides education about these scams and encourages users to report the scams if they encounter them. The spokesperson went on to say if Facebook becomes aware of an account using the platform to spread scams, Facebook will disable that account for violating its policies.
It's information Ribaudo says is invaluable.
"I want the public to be aware of this scam so they don't fall for it," she said.