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Facebook Scams: Cyber
Crime Cases on Swindling > The Modus
Operandi
Engr. Antonio E. Jimeno, Jr., ECE
Valenzuela City, Philippines.
COMMON PROFILE OF A
PROFESSIONAL SCAM ARTIST:
(1) Gadgets offered at a
very attractive price.
(2) The Facebook Account of the seller has
so many friends and has been created for
several years
(3) Various Mode of Payments Available;
Bank, Money Remittance, Globe GCash
(4) No Meet-ups
(5) Pictures of different items sold by the
Online Seller posted in his/her Facebook
Albums and Wall
(6) Mastery of the Technical Features of the
Items/Gadgets by the Online Seller
(7) Proof of Shipment posted on the Online
Sellers Album in Facebook giving the
impression that he/she is legitimate
(8) Testimonies of his/her friends/clients
that he/she is a legitimate online seller
(9) Membership in various Online Community
of Sellers (Facebook Groups)
(10) Offer of Discount Coupons when you pay
thru his/her preferred mode of payment.
Step 1: The Lethal
Attraction!
As previously discussed,
Item (1) above is the culprit. It is the
magnet that attracts unsuspecting buyers and
online shoppers of the lethal scheme
perpetrated by the scam artist (commonly
referred to as scammers).
It is the bait. Analogous
to the Civil Code's Principle on Attractive
Nuisance. It entices your urge to buy at an
instant lest you regret losing the
opportunity of a "lifetime."
A Laptop selling at
USD80! A Canon DSLR Camera selling at USD99!
If you buy this now, you will get additional
freebies! If you pay thru the seller's
preferred mode of payment you will get
discount on FREE SHIPPING!
That is how it started!
There was a very attractive offer and you
were enticed to grad the opportunity.
Step 2: The Seller
Seems Legit!
The seller seems legit...
the seller seems legit... the seller seems
legit... this line is continuously streaming
in your mind. Either your are trying to
convince yourself so you can justify the
urge inside you to grab the "opportunity of
a lifetime" or the PRICE TAG clogs your
ability to rationalize even if you are
repeatedly reciting the mantra: The seller
seems legit.
Then you scroll Items
(2), (5), (8), and (9) above and you try to
convince yourself that indeed "The seller
seems legit."
You asked the seller,
either thru Facebook Private Message (PM) or
thru Text about the features of the items
and you experience for yourself Item (6)
above.
Step 3: The
Negotiation Stage
As with the Traditional
Selling, you negotiate your terms, ask for
further discount and boom - it was offered
to you PROVIDED THAT YOU PAY IN FULL NOW;
WITHIN THE DAY! Instead of being suspicious,
you are more enticed and inclined to pay.
However, the little voice inside you is
looking for more security assurances.
You negotiated for a
Meet-Up. Not possible. Either the Seller is
too busy to accommodate a meet-up or it is
just too impractical considering the
geographical distance.
Then comes the teaser -
You can pay thru bank. The Seller seems
legit!
Then another teaser - If
you pay thru the seller's preferred mode of
payment (either Money Remittance Centers;
Pera Padala or Electronic Cash Transfer
Payment Services; Globe GCash, SmartMoney),
you can avail of the FREE SHIPPING.
And you asked yourself, I
have the seller's bank account anyway, why
not pay him/her via his/her preferred mode
of payment?
You may also decline the
offer of FREE SHIPPING as the amount
involved is too large to risk being scammed
so you might also prefer paying thru bank,
or even via PayPal.
Step 4: The Payment
and Waiting Stage
You paid the seller and
informed him/her of such payment. He/she
promised to deliver the item via a courier
and that he/she will give you the Tracking
Number later. At this point, he/she was
borrowing precious time.
At this point, there may
be delays in the delivery but you can still
contact him/her to inquire about the delay.
He/she will give you several reasons;
typhoons, misdelivery by the courier, etc.
The seller needs to borrow precious time to
perfect his/her diabolical scheme.
Later, he/she will give
you a tracking number which is NON-EXISTENT!
He/she may claim typographical error, or
error/glitch in the courier's Computerized
Tracking System.
Step 5: Getting Away
with your hard-earned money.
Yes, the seller needs
time to perfect his/her scheme. At this
point, you can still send him/her Facebook
Private Messages (PMs) or Text Messages (SMS).
You can still view the seller's Facebook
Account.
If the payment is thru
Globe GCash, as what many of our cases are,
he/she will transfer the money to one (or
usually several) GCash Account(s) located in
different part(s) of the Philippines, and
the latter recipient will withdraw the whole
amount.
Once the whole amount is
withdrawn, the seller disappears!
Step 6: The
Disappearing Act
Several days after your
payment transaction, the seller's account
would BLOCK you! It may remain active for a
while (waiting to close his/her other
transaction with other victims in his/her
Facebook account).
You cannot view his/her
profile anymore. You can no longer send
him/her Facebook Private Messages (PMs). You
tried to call him/her and he/she "can no
longer be reached." You tried to send
him/her text messages and these will have no
replies.
You now realized that you
fell victim to a SCAM ARTIST.
Then before you blame
yourself, you refer to Items (2), (8) and
(9) above.
(2) The Facebook Account
of the seller has so many friends and has
been created for several years
(8) Testimonies of his/her friends/clients
that he/she is a legitimate online seller
(9) Membership in various Online Community
of Sellers (Facebook Groups)
That proves your were
dealing with a PROFESSIONAL SCAM ARTIST!
Many SELLERS are BUYING
FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS with lots of friends,
preferably created for many years. These
Professional Scam Artists buy these
established Facebook Accounts at attractive
prices. In fact, due to these schemes, many
users in Facebook would also offer their
Facebook Accounts for sale and post the same
in various online seller community groups in
Facebook. That answers Item (2) above.
And we are talking here
of the MANY Facebook accounts the online
seller had. These accounts conducts REGULAR
SELF-SERVICE TESTIMONIES in various Facebook
Online Seller Communities giving
testimonials that a particular account
(which the seller also owned) is legit. That
answers Items (8) and (9) above.
In fact, many "alleged
victims" who would come to seek our
assistance would inquire, not not on the
legal side of their case, but more on the
technical side - on how we trace the
location and identity of scam artists. That
is the reason why we do not, will not, and
must not discuss these things on chat.
Engr.
Antonio E. Jimeno, Jr., ECE is a Cyber Crime
Consultant. He founded the IS THIS LEGIT?
Group in Facebook to help buyers inquire
whether a particular seller is Legit or not.
Engr. Antonio E. Jimeno, Jr., ECE also
offers his portal,
http://www.LegitOnlineSellers.com where
sellers are posted either as (1)
Provisionally Approved, (2) Verified, or (3)
Certified Legit Online Seller FREE-OF-CHARGE
to help reduce if not totally eliminate
incidences of swindling and fraud not only
in Facebook but also in the Internet. He is
a resource speaker in various training and
seminars to the government agencies, Armed
Forces of the Philippines, Philippine
National Police, Private Corporations and
Business Entities as well as Schools and
Universities since 1989. He also conducts
training and seminars on Ethical Hacking,
Cyber Crime Forensics and Techniques, Data
Communication, Web Page Design, Website
Development, Website Administration and
E-Commerce among others. Engr. Antonio E.
Jimeno, Jr., ECE is also a SEO Practitioner,
specializing in removing bad, malicious and
libelous articles
not only from the search engines' page
results but from the Internet as well. Engr.
Antonio E. Jimeno, Jr., ECE founded the
International Portal Cyber Crime Complaint
Center as well as Online Reputation
Management Philippines.
Internet Reputation Protection Services in the Philippines.
by: SparkNet
Internet Protection
Services: Removing Malicious Blog Sites and
Libelous Social Networking Sites not only
from the Search Engines' Page Results but
from the Internet as well. We can also help
you coordinate with the authorities to track
and trace the identity of the "author" and
perform cyber crime forensics to help you
lawyers gather electronic evidence for a
successful conviction in the courts of law.
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