U.S.: Woman cheated on Facebook sends overseas $ 4,000

A Missouri woman was tricked into submitting a wire transfer to someone in England after receiving bogus messages from a friend on Facebook, asking for help, police said Wednesday.
Cape Girardeau Scherrman Jayne sent the money through Western Union after receiving what she believed were several requests for help from his friend, Jason Selzer said Sgt.
The police were informed of the scam on August 26, said Selzer. Authorities believe someone took the Facebook account of the Cape County resident Girardeu, Grace Parry, changed the password so that she could not enter and sent messages saying she and her husband had been arrested in London and needed money.
Scherrman said he received a message Tuesday Parry saying he needed help. Scherrman, a pediatric dentist, said that Parry and her husband pastor voyages as missionaries, so it seemed unusual that might be in England.
The victim actually imagined that his friends needed help if they could only contact us through email and expected to be paid once the loan. Initially he said they needed $ 600 for hotel and taxi, but then said it was not enough for the exchange rate. Finally, someone called to say that the couple had been arrested and needed more money to help them fly back home.
Scherrman asked to speak to her friend, but was told that was not available. He also received the name of who called and tried to get an address when he realized that he might have been a scam. By then, she had sent nearly $ 4,000 through three transfers by Western Union, said.
Parry said that another friend from Mississippi also sent $ 600.
Parry, who has not ridden in years to England, tried to log into your account to warn other friends, but could not. Facebook asked to suspend your account and your husband notices issued several warnings about the scam, including one that Scherrman received after he had sent the money.
Facebook, based in Palo Alto, California, said such scams are not uncommon on the internet. Facebook has systems to detect suspicious behavior related to certain accounts and block when possible, said company spokesman Simon Axten in an email."We are also working with authorities and Western Union (a wire transfer company frequently used by scammers) to investigate specific cases and improve education," he wrote.

Women and elderly victims of thieves favorite network

The criminal gangs that try to deceive the Chinese to provide them with bank details and other personal information are having their biggest hit with the elderly and women, police said Monday
A raid on Internet crime brought to light bands operating in six counties of the mainland that divert money and electronic communications through Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries to avoid detection.

Most deceive their victims through text messages who claim to be a bank or the police and induce them to call fake numbers to give their bank details. In the West, such practices called "phishing" and are often carried out by junk email.

"The main characteristic of these people is that they are very clever talkers, and also use sophisticated technology," Huang said Zuyua, deputy director of criminal investigation unit of the Ministry of Public Security of China.

Other tricks are very used to using words that entice the victim to a conversation in which information stop uncovered, proposals too good to be true threats if not sent the money, and even false kidnappings, in which the victim who believes he hears his son is fighting or yelling, Huang said.

About 70 percent of the victims are elderly, and another 70 percent are women.

The scams, which initially went to the wealthy inhabitants of the coastal area of the country are moving to the center and inland China. In Beijing you can see many posters reminding people to beware of financial crimes on the Internet.

These gangs operate as businesses, departments in charge of technology and others who perform money transfers.

The lax banking procedures in the country, and the large number of internet services such as insurance, to help ease with which gangs operate, police said.

More than 1,400 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in these crimes, said Huang