Facebook Message Saying Robbed and Stranded? Don't Fall For It, Says FBI

FBI’s cyber-crime complaint center IC3 continues to receive reports of email or social-networking accounts being compromised and used in a social-engineering scam to swindle consumers out of thousands of dollars.

Pretending to be the victim, the hacker uses victims’ account to send a message to their contacts. The notice claims the victim is in immediate need of money due to being robbed and left stranded in London or some other location.

Some claim they only have a few days to pay their hotel bill and promise to reimburse after returning home. A sense of urgency to help their friend/contact may cause the recipient to fail to validate the claim, increasing the likelihood of their falling for this scam.

IC3 mentions one easy step to take to avoid becoming victim of these scams: If you receive a similar notice and are not sure it is a scam, verify the information before forking out a smaller fortune.