Spotting internet scammers and fake profiles on Facebook, Marketplace
Amanda Prior-Grissinger is an admin for dozens of local Facebook groups. She identifies, blocks scammers who use fake profiles to impersonate locals.
Facebook is now one of the biggest go-to online marketplaces for finding deals on nearby products, but it’s also rife with scammers looking for their next con.
Scammers are “manipulative” and will glean details from public Facebook posts, Camp said. She advises retirees when she teaches a special seminar to never share their birthday with others.
“Sometimes your birthday is your kid’s banking password,” said L. Jean Camp, a professor of computer science and informatics at Indiana University.
When making purchases online, Thomas Holt, a professor in the school of criminal justice at Michigan State University, said buyers should be wary of stock images in listings — and people should be sure to take their own photos when listing items.
Buyers should exercise caution when people ask to move communication off of the original platform, as that can increase the risk for fraud, Holt said.
Divya Ramjee, an assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology and researcher at the ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute, said people should be “extremely cautious” about sending money and personal information to people online. Meeting at a public place and exchanging cash or a secure transaction are good tactics to avoid an online scam, she said.
In general, people on social media should be cautious about what they post online, as scammers can exploit personal information shared publicly over time, Ramjee said.
What are common scam posts?
Amanda Prior-Grissinger, an admin or moderator in more than two dozen local Facebook groups, cautions that scam-like posts often seem “too good to be true” — and it’s because they are.
Common scam posts include air duct cleaning, garage repair, houses for rent at an unrealistic rate, work-from-home jobs that pay very well and free food.
And when someone turns off commenting on the post, that’s also a red flag; that can happen after Prior-Grissinger or another Facebook user suspects the post might be a scam.
How Facebook admins can help keep group members safe from scammers
Prior-Grissinger has also developed a multipage document to help group leaders mitigate the risk of potential scammers.
Other admins can take measures to protect the groups themselves. Prior-Grissinger suggests that groups are private and that they include basic screening questions, such as the state capital or their favorite neighborhood café. That can be a quick way to catch suspicious accounts run by people who aren’t from the area.
Prior-Grissinger also inspects the profiles and looks for red flags, such as a minimal number of friends, recent account activation date and minimal profile photos. Some people are more private than others, she acknowledges, but she can look for other warning signs of a fake profile.
Sometimes, she will scope out the location of the other profiles liking and commenting on photos and will notice suspicious patterns. She will also often leave a “haha” reaction on public profile photos to flag the account as suspicious to other group admins and Facebook users.
The biographical field can also show some potential red flags. Scammers often say that they work at Facebook, are self-employed, or are an entrepreneur.
awinfrey@dispatch.com