Jamie received a message on Facebook Messenger from what appeared to be her great aunt Mary from New York. Jamie and Mary began talking almost every day catching up on various topics. Eventually, Mary asked Jamie to send money and purchase some gift cards.
Jamie went to the Bank and withdrew $10,000.00 cash from her account and claimed to be using the cash to send to her family in a foreign country. A few days later, Jamie requested $20,000.00 cash to send to a friend in Texas to loan her money.
Gift cards were also purchased over a few months at local retail stores. The gift card numbers and access codes were scratched on the gift card and pictures were sent to Mary to use the funds.
After Jamie had requested additional cash from her account, questions were raised on the true purpose of the cash withdrawals as it was not typical account activity for Jamie. It was then determined a cloned Facebook account had been messaging with Jamie and it truly was not Mary asking for money. It was unknown who the money was being sent to.
The Red Flags
Jamie had not talked to Mary in over 10-years and then received a message out of the blue.
Request to purchase gift cards and provide the card numbers rather than mailing them like a real gift.
Request to overnight cash in the mail.
What To Do?
STOP communicating with the individual.
BLOCK and report the Facebook cloned profile.
NEVER purchase gift cards unless they are truly a gift and you are physically giving the cards to the individual.
NEVER mail cash, especially when instructed to overnight the package.
