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Apparently Street Crime in London Is AWFUL

Nov 11, 2009
By .
Technology

So this morning I get a chat message on Facebook from someone I haven't talked to in a while. He's a very smart IP lawyer. I respond and ask him how he is, and he says terrible. He's been mugged on a trip to London, he says. Oh coitus, says I. Need help with anything? Why yes, says he, now that you mention it. All that I have left is my passport. Could you loan me a few bucks by Western Union? I'll pay you back when I get back to LA.

Even in my morning-fogged, kid-distracted, caffeine-jonesing, not-too-smart-to-begin-with mind, alarm bells ring. A quick Google seems in order. Oh look, it's a new scam. I email the link to the fellow who has taken over my friend's Facebook account. Then the conversation gets awkward.

My point: this friend is a very smart and tech-savvy lawyer. Yet somehow, someone compromised his Facebook password. Odds are they did that when he bit on a phishing overture.

Be careful out there.

Last 5 posts by Ken

4 Comments
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4 Comments

  1. Charles  •  Nov 11, 2009 @12:08 pm

    An attempted scammer contacted me the same way. The conversation ended abruptly when I asked him if he could just tell me his own wife's last name. I assume that you contacted him by non-facebook means to let him know that he's been hacked.

  2. ES  •  Nov 12, 2009 @10:25 am

    Now I know how I'm going to pay back my law school debt! Brilliant!

  3. Walker  •  Nov 12, 2009 @1:02 pm

    This may be how your friend got hacked. From one of my friends' status updates:

    "There is a new way to hack your Facebook. A Notification will be sent to you that one of your friends has commented on your status, it will open a new page and tell you to re-enter your Facebook username and password. The page looks just like the FB login page so be on the look out, and don't enter your info! "

  4. Reuven Avram  •  Nov 15, 2009 @9:29 am

    My company, which designs software and systems for the Theme Park industry, did a "facebook application" a while ago for a client so their friends can follow their park activites in real-time. After seeing how horrible the security was, and how any third-party application writer can get access to everything, I vowed never, ever, to use Facebook for my personal use.