PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – In growing numbers, people are losing their hard-earned money to online scams.
Last year alone, $5.8 billion was lost by unsuspecting victims.
Among the many tools, the thieves are using is Facebook by cloning identities.
If you’ve ever gotten a message from a friend saying, “Hey you just sent me a friend request,” that is the opening salvo to a fight that could turn costly.
It’s a fight for your information.
“The more information they might have on you, leaves you at greater risk, you know, as an individual,” said James Quaid.
And Quaid ought to know; he had his identity stolen and the thieves opened bank accounts and charged cards.
“I think it took me a good two months of my life dedicated just to clear the kind of the mess up which had happened,” Quaid added.
So he turned his misfortune into helping others through Gotalk Wireless, where he focuses on those who duplicate the SIM card in your phone as a way to open bogus accounts. He’s also aware of Facebook cloning.
“They will build a profile or impersonate you and say that they are you.”
Then comes the friend request to your friends, hoping they’ll click on the request.
“They can gain information from other people pretending to be you and then, therefore, they have more information to go ahead and attack that particular person,” Quaid said.
With sob stories and requests for help that appear to be coming from you.
If you get one of those friend requests?
“You reach out to a colleague…
