{"id":23138,"date":"2020-12-04T15:59:51","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T23:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?p=23138"},"modified":"2022-04-13T12:23:47","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T20:23:47","slug":"facebook-charity-scammers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/","title":{"rendered":"How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Americans are some of the most <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/opinion\/gallup\/245192\/generous-countries-world.aspx\">generous people in the world<\/a>, donating millions of dollars to charity each year. Every day hundreds of Americans are lured into scams designed to take advantage of that generosity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through social media platforms like Facebook, scammers have turned digital social networks to prey on unsuspecting victims. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scamwatch.gov.au\/about-scamwatch\/scam-statistics?scamid=14&amp;date=2019\">Scamwatch<\/a> the majority of \u201ccharity scams\u201d are conducted on social networking sites that rely on data aggregated shared by you and your friends.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charity scams take a variety of forms but the good news is that most scammers follow a pattern. To help you better identify their methods, here are the <strong>5 Steps that Charity Scammers Use To Target Their Victims on Facebook.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step One: \u201cFake Friending\u201d the Victim&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to deceive their victims, charity scammers begin by creating fake profiles on Facebook. Their profiles often feature stolen images of real people dressed in professional attire for the sake of credibility. Using automated programs, the scammers spam hundreds of Facebook users with friend requests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a fake profile is \u2018friended,\u2019 it lends the scammer credibility within your personal network.&nbsp; The scammer needs only one person from your network to accept a fake profile friend request in order to appear within your social circle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Believing this \u201cfriend\u201d of a friend must be trustworthy, other Facebook users are more likely to accept requests from the fake profile, thus exposing their own personal information to the scammer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step Two: Gathering Information on the Victim<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once \u2018friended\u2019 the scammer will analyze all the information that their victims put on their Facebook profile. This process is known as \u2018gathering.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because Facebook centralizes all of your personal data on one profile, the scammer has access to all of the details that you would only share with close family and friends. Hobbies and activities such as what books or movies you enjoy, where you shop and donate money informs the scammer about your interests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Details like those above give the scammer powerful knowledge about their target\u2019s interests, which in turn are used to create an effective con.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step Three: Mirroring the Victim&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Scammers will customize their fake profiles to mimic the interests of their target. This technique, called \u201cmirroring\u201d, gives victims a false sense of familiarity. It\u2019s a technique pioneered by Romance Scammers (also known as Catfish).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This technique may use the victim\u2019s natural sense of empathy or friendliness to lower their guard in a situation where they would otherwise be alert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance the scammer may claim to have attended the same university or have a similar degree from another college. They may even like and comment on the things that you like in order to build rapport.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some victims even report that scammers will engage in small talk or chit chat for weeks or even months before asking for money. All of this is done in order to bypass the victim\u2019s critical thought processes and build a false sense of trust between the victim and the scammer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step Four: Pitching the Victim&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the rapport between the scammer and the victim is established the scammer then makes a \u201cpitch.\u201d They will claim to represent a charity or be running a fund drive for an organization that is need of donors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charity scammers often share misleading website links that ask for large sums of money in exchange for gift cards, awards or vacation vouchers. By this time the scammer knows enough about their target to appeal to their personal interests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charity scammers may simply rely upon the goodwill of the donor and just ask for money outright. Sometimes they bait their \u201cpitches\u201d with offers of gift certificates and unlimited shopping sprees. If the victim is resistant they will say that time is running out or that there are only so many awards to go around and distribute to the donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step Five: \u201cPiggy-Backing\u201d the Bank Account<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the victim has taken the bait the scammer will then ask them to wire transfer money to a bank or third party like Western Union.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the money is wired over it\u2019s too late. The scammer will vanish as quickly as they appeared, and leave the victim without any real information to trace their whereabouts. Because the profiles and names that the scammer impersonates are either fake or stolen there is little that local police can do to track the scammer down.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>International scammers may even steal the identity of someone within the States and have the money forwarded to a U.S.-based account and then send the funds offshore. This method is known as \u201cpiggy-backing.\u201d Once the money leaves the victim\u2019s account and enters the scammer\u2019s bank it is unable to be traced. The scammer can simply withdraw the money and disappear.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sadly there is little that victims can do to recover their money. Banks will often refuse to replace the stolen money because the funds were voluntarily wired.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How To Protect Yourself from Facebook Scams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to protect yourself from charity scams, it\u2019s important to take certain precautions while using Facebook. Here are a few ways you can protect yourself:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Never accept a Facebook friend requests from someone you don\u2019t know, even if they are a \u201cfriend-of-a-friend.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"2\"><li>Vet new Facebook friends by confirming their identity within your preexisting social network.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"3\"><li>Double check the identity of a Facebook profile by running the username through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/username-search\"><strong>Spokeo\u2019s Username Search Tool<\/strong><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends that you should always verify a user\u2019s online profile before friending them on any social media platform. Even if they appear to be the \u201cfriend-of-a-friend\u201d you should screen their name through a trusted source.&nbsp;<br>Don\u2019t accept the friend request of an online stranger. Even if your pre-existing contacts have accepted the contact within their network, always conduct a back search on the new account. You can also use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/people-search\"><strong>Spokeo\u2019s People Search<\/strong><\/a> to find out whether or not their location, profession and identity align with what\u2019s on their profile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Americans are some of the most generous people in the world, donating millions of dollars to charity each year. Every day hundreds of Americans are lured into scams designed to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":23471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[614],"tags":[680],"class_list":["post-23138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safety","tag-know-him"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook - The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook - The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Americans are some of the most generous people in the world, donating millions of dollars to charity each year. Every day hundreds of Americans are lured into scams designed to&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Spokeo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T23:59:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-13T20:23:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Spokeo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spokeo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spokeo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Spokeo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/\",\"name\":\"How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook - The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T23:59:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-13T20:23:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#\/schema\/person\/d064cf67e95f6058dbec1c4eebc53c44\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1\",\"width\":800,\"height\":411},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/\",\"name\":\"The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo\",\"description\":\"The official Spokeo blog covers topics such as digital identity, consumer protection and privacy, how to avoid scams and catfishing, and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#\/schema\/person\/d064cf67e95f6058dbec1c4eebc53c44\",\"name\":\"Spokeo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e492b2d60c7cf3c148525c45191c0bb108881d6c2d3a2413959adb9829b993f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e492b2d60c7cf3c148525c45191c0bb108881d6c2d3a2413959adb9829b993f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Spokeo\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/author\/spokeo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook - The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook - The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo","og_description":"Americans are some of the most generous people in the world, donating millions of dollars to charity each year. Every day hundreds of Americans are lured into scams designed to&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/","og_site_name":"The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Spokeo\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-04T23:59:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-13T20:23:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":411,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Spokeo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spokeo","twitter_site":"@Spokeo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Spokeo","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/","name":"How Charity Scammers Target Their Victims on Facebook - The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1","datePublished":"2020-12-04T23:59:51+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-13T20:23:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#\/schema\/person\/d064cf67e95f6058dbec1c4eebc53c44"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/facebook-charity-scammers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1","width":800,"height":411},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/","name":"The Compass Blog | Digital Identity and People Search | Spokeo","description":"The official Spokeo blog covers topics such as digital identity, consumer protection and privacy, how to avoid scams and catfishing, and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#\/schema\/person\/d064cf67e95f6058dbec1c4eebc53c44","name":"Spokeo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e492b2d60c7cf3c148525c45191c0bb108881d6c2d3a2413959adb9829b993f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e492b2d60c7cf3c148525c45191c0bb108881d6c2d3a2413959adb9829b993f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Spokeo"},"url":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/author\/spokeo\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/How-Charity-Scammers-Target-Their-Victims-on-FB_2260px_1160px-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C411&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8V62u-61c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23315,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23138\/revisions\/23315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}