A New Form of Affinity Fraud
Affinity fraud uses your connections with individuals or groups to gain your trust and lure you into a scam. Most commonly, scammers present themselves as associated with the mark's faith community or a charitable organization, sometimes asking for donations, but often offering "investment opportunities."
The rise of social media has led to a more intimately personal form of affinity fraud, creating fake profiles that duplicate an actual friend of the mark, then try to lure them into some kind of scam. I nearly got suckered into one, when I got a friend request from what appeared to be an old friend. A short time later, I got a DM asking how things were doing. I replied conversationally, and then the conversation turned weird, with a whole bunch of stuff about a supposed DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) giveaway of tens of thousands of dollars to needy elderly, and offering to connect me with an agent. Except the agent was another Facebook profile.
Smelling a rat, I did a little investigating, made contact with the actual person through a mutual friend on another platform, and determined that my suspicions were correct and that was a fraudulent account. I've unfriended it and deleted the DM conversation. However, I could completely see how an elderly person who wasn't computer savvy could very easily be suckered into revealing personal information, even scammed out of enormous amounts of money.
The rise of social media has led to a more intimately personal form of affinity fraud, creating fake profiles that duplicate an actual friend of the mark, then try to lure them into some kind of scam. I nearly got suckered into one, when I got a friend request from what appeared to be an old friend. A short time later, I got a DM asking how things were doing. I replied conversationally, and then the conversation turned weird, with a whole bunch of stuff about a supposed DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) giveaway of tens of thousands of dollars to needy elderly, and offering to connect me with an agent. Except the agent was another Facebook profile.
Smelling a rat, I did a little investigating, made contact with the actual person through a mutual friend on another platform, and determined that my suspicions were correct and that was a fraudulent account. I've unfriended it and deleted the DM conversation. However, I could completely see how an elderly person who wasn't computer savvy could very easily be suckered into revealing personal information, even scammed out of enormous amounts of money.