Are you really talking to your friends on Facebook? Woman loses thousands over scam

A B.C. woman has lost thousands of dollars after instant messaging with someone she thought was her work supervisor on Facebook.

“The messages looked believable and I was sucked in,” said Renee Dupree.

It turns out her supervisor’s account had been hacked while she was on vacation. Dupree tried to reach her by phone, but without success.

The messages continued over the course of three weeks promising Dupree $31,000 in prize money.

“I just received a whole bunch of cash, $15 thousand dollars from this company called United Nations Help Commission and here is the email of this lady Jill Moore and if you want your money Renee contact this person right away,” says Dupree, reading out the email she thought she got from her supervisor.

Dupree did contact the so-called Jill Moore, who then asked Dupree for several payments, claiming it was needed to process the prize money.

In total, Dupree transferred 16 payments totaling over $8,000.

When the money never came and Dupree’s supervisor finally returned from vacation, Dupree knew she’d been scammed.

“I just felt so dumb having given away all that money and no chance of getting it back,” she says.

Tech expert Tristan Jutras says that with any scheme involving large sums of money, it’s always best to contact them directly.

“Speak to them, listen to the sound of their voice because anyone can fake an email and Facebook message, because if that’s been hacked we can fall victim to this scam easily.”

Jutras also recommends visiting Facecrooks.com – the website alerts consumers to the latest Facebook scams. He also recommends reporting online scams to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.