Beware of This Facebook Scam

A Millburn resident and Facebook user was scammed out of $2,000 when she fell for a Facebook mugging scam on Saturday.

If you’ve been on Facebook long enough, chances are you know the one: A Facebook friend messages you (usually in an instant message) and sounds frantic, telling you he  (or she) has just been mugged in a foreign country (usually Great Britain) and that you are the only one online he could reach.

If you write back, your “friend" will ask you to wire money because after being mugged he is stuck overseas with nothing.

Twice I've had hackers posing as friends try this scam on me. Both times, I was able to email my friend outside of Facebook to find out what was going on.

My friends had been victims of hackers, and if I hadn’t reached out to them, I might have been taken in by what seems pretty believable at first.

According to Millburn Police, on Saturday, when the Township resident got this message, she wired $2,000 to her "friend" through Western Union to the UK and only afterward learned that her real friend hadn’t sent her the message to begin with.

If you're on Facebook but hadn't heard of this scam yet, consider this your warning.