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What would you look like if after commenting on a photo of the leader of your favorite rock band on a Facebook page someone who claims to be the same singer responds? Although at first glance it does not seem plausible, it is a new strategy that the scammers they are employing on that social network in order to get hold of the money of fans of famous people.
Marta (fictitious name), a reader of Maldita.es, commented a photo of Roger Waters, member of the British rock group Pink Floyd, on a page unofficial dedicated to the artist on Facebook. “After making a comment someone wrote me on Messenger with the profile picture of Water himself thanking me for my words. I asked who he was, if he was an administrator and he said no, that he was himself, ” he tells us.
Once he started a conversation with her, he asked her for her WhatsApp number and they continued talking in this way until he asked her to pay 650 dollars (almost 570 euros) for a supposed “ID”card by which he promised him that he would earn a monthly sum.
Impersonate the identity of the famous character
Marta left a comment on a page called Roger Waters Fanpage that only had 43 followers. Although the official website of the co-founder of Pink Floyd it bears his name and is verified on Facebook, the person who wrote to Marta with the picture of Waters himself insisted that it was himself.
“I wondered why I liked his music, since when I was a fan of it… until he asked me for the WhatsApp number. I gave it to him and he texted me from a number in the United States.”, remember Marta.
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It’s a scam similar to the fake Tinder profiles: the cybercriminal tries to get the victim to gain a little confidence by asking him about his family and other details of his life and then asks you to talk on WhatsApp.
“In the end he asked me to become a member of the site with an ID card to be a verified member and with which I would earn 300 dollars (about 263 euros) a month.” However, he did not explain how he was supposed to get it. That’s right., I asked him to pay 650 dollars (about 570 euros) first of all just to give him the card.
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The page has already been removed
Marta rejected the offer of the person behind Roger Waters ‘ profile and blocked him from WhatsApp to stop insisting on buying the alleged card. ” I blocked it, reported it on Facebook and wrote to the official Roger Waters website to let him know that they are impersonating him to ask for money, ” he adds. In fact, the Roger Waters Fanpage through which he tried to con her has already been removed from Facebook.
How to avoid being a victim of these Facebook scams?
Facebook is full of fan pages from a multitude of musicians, actors and other famous people. These, if present in social networks, they usually have the badge verified, that is, the blue tic and it means that the social network has confirmed that it is who it claims to be, so that we differentiate it from those profiles that have not been verified.
This does not mean that the rest are fraudulent pages, they are simply unverified profiles, but it is important that you do not agree to speak on WhatsApp if that supposed known person asks you to since it is a common practice of cybercriminals, so we always recommend talking from the chat of the platform itself.
You can also look in the “Transparency” tab of the page if this has been created recently and also look at the number of followers it has.
If someone impersonating someone else has contacted you and asked you for money like Marta, it is important that you report it to Facebook. As well you can tell us your story by writing to [email protected].
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