An estimated 193 Facebook hacking cases were reported to the official 165 Anti-Fraud and Internet Scam Hotline from Monday to Sunday last week, many of which involved impersonation scams, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) reported yesterday.
Of the cases, 128 involved someone hacking into people’s Facebook accounts and impersonating them to offer smartphones to their family members or friends for less than the market price, the CIB said.
The fraudsters also carried over the impersonations to the instant messaging app Line, where they often finalized details of their sales transactions, the bureau said, adding that many incidents reported to it had lately followed such a pattern.
A 32-year-old housewife surnamed Chen (陳) noticed one of her “friends” selling iPhones on Facebook at a very low price and bought six phones for NT$43,000, but she never received the products.
Two other women, surnamed Cheng (程) and Wu (吳), also responded to such offers and completed their purchases via Line. Neither received the goods they paid for.
Cheng realized that she had been scammed when she noticed that her friend’s Facebook account had been shut down, but Wu only understood she had been targeted by an impostor after reporting the case to the bureau.
The bureau urged the public to use other methods to confirm with family members or friends that they are who they say they are before wiring money.
The 165 hotline was set up to assist people seeking advice after being contacted by potential scammers, or who want to verify or report that they have been scammed.
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