Texas Woman Scammed by 'Friend' in 'Facebook Lottery'

May 23, 2014, 2:05 pm (44 comments)

Scam Alert

Includes video report

A woman in Texas says she was the victim of a well-worn scam, but what was unique in her case was that the fraudulent pitch came to her through a Facebook "friend" and was allegedly endorsed by President Obama.

Kris White admits that she shouldn't have been fooled last week by the Facebook message saying she had won $250,000 in a "Facebook Powerball lottery," ABC News affiliate KTRK reported. She said she was shown documents that wrote United States with lowercase letters and included phrases with incorrect punctuation, according to the KTRK story.

But she was swayed when the person on Facebook showed her documents signed by Barack Obama that said, "This is a Real proof you won $250,000.00."

"Shame on me," White told ABC affiliate KTRK in Houston.

"I'm a sucker, I guess," she said. "I believed it."

Her gullibility and her eagerness to collect the $250,000 prize instead cost her $750.

The Facebook message that told her she had won appeared to have come from a friend at work. The "friend" told White to contact another person via Facebook to collect her winnings. In order to collect, however, she was instructed to make two wire transfers totaling about $750 to an individual in South Africa to cover the taxes. White said she was promised the money would be delivered to her home on Monday, KTRK reported, but the money never came. When she later asked her coworker about the lottery, he said he had no knowledge of it, KTRK reported.

White appears to have been the victim of what the FBI calls an "advance fee scheme." That's when a victim pays money to someone while expecting something of greater value, such as a loan or gift.

Adam Levin, chairman of Identity Theft 911 and security columnist for ABC News, said fee scams are quite common these days.

"Social networking sites have become petri dishes for those whose day-job is the exploitation of others," Levin said. "They are the new casino of dreams where the game is rigged against true believers, dreamers and perpetual optimists. Advance fee scams are but one common vial of snake oil in the many pockets of a con-man's overcoat."

The Harris County Sheriff's Office told ABC News that a complaint was filed on Tuesday and it was turned over to the criminal investigation bureau.

White could not be reached for comment by ABC News.

Facebook told ABC News, "Scams violate our policies, and we take action on accounts found to be spreading them." The spokesman pointed readers to the Facebook Help Center to avoid scams. "We recommend being suspicious of claims that sound too good to be true."

VIDEO: Watch the report

ABC News

Comments

chrissy16

Africa??? Need I say more

mrcraft's avatarmrcraft

Endorsed by President Obama should have been a big red flag too.

EdG1955

It wasn't Nigeria. I mean, who would be suspicious of South Africa? Dupe Alert

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Greed, Greed, Greed, with friends like that........

Jani Norman's avatarJani Norman

It's bad enough that they scam the elderly out of life savings, she looks like an intelligent lady that would not fall for something like that, I just don't understand people, who think that if you send money off to someone you've never met or seen that they will send you that kind of money back???????

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

"There's a sucker born every minute"

-P.T. Barnum

 

"There's a crook born every second"

-Ridge  Runner

noise-gate

"She was PROMISED that the money would be delivered to her door but it never came"...

Was she expecting a Loomis truck to show up outside her residence to drop off K250? 

What l would like to know is : Why did she not run this by her husband, children, grandchildren etc? As someone earlier posted " Greed"- the Gollum syndrome " its all mine, its my precious"...not!

 

Hats off to Todd for 1st Class entertainment!

MADDOG10's avatarMADDOG10

Well Little Lady, Got some ocean front property in Arizona in case you get a hankering to cool off at the beach awhile.

For only a third of what you paid for nothing. Contact me via the intercom, I'll hear yah....!!!

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax
lottoguysocal's avatarlottoguysocal

poor lady, next time she should go with her gut instincts, never heard of paying fees to collect a winning you won in the lottery

mikeintexas's avatarmikeintexas

I was checking email earlier and noticed a mail in the spam folder w/ the subject line:  "Facebook Lottery".   I deleted it, along with the rest.

lottolaughs's avatarlottolaughs

OMG...hello! South Africa? Taxes? FACEBOOK? Red flags anyone? Yes,folks...this is what greed gets you. $750 poorer.

bluerain

people  are  stupid,  because  they  are greedy.  they  deserve  to  get   scammed

bluerain

greed   and   stupid   ==   loss

LottoBoner

Quote: Originally posted by chrissy16 on May 23, 2014

Africa??? Need I say more

Holy, your comment can be taken out of context a little.

LottoBoner

I wish that I could log on to my FB account so I could debunk this nonsense.

Teddi's avatarTeddi

A $750 lesson. I really really really want to feel bad for her, but COME ON. There were about a million red flags here. At this point I can't even blame the scammers. They don't even have to try all that hard. I'm beginning to think scam artists will need to put THIS IS A SCAM in big block letters for people to stop sending their hard earned money in to these fake lotteries.

Drenick1's avatarDrenick1

This lottery scam was endorsed by Obama...lol! I have a sneaking suspicion that this lady is a big supporter of good ol Barrack.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by Drenick1 on May 23, 2014

This lottery scam was endorsed by Obama...lol! I have a sneaking suspicion that this lady is a big supporter of good ol Barrack.

she probably the other bottle blonde still waiting on the big check for her votes Stooges

Greg2117's avatarGreg2117

mediabrat's avatarmediabrat

She's lucky she only lost $750.  Others have lost thousands of dollars to these scams.

As for the idiot a few posts up trying to bring politics into it, that wasn't the point of this story and it has no place here.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by LottoBoner on May 23, 2014

Holy, your comment can be taken out of context a little.

Anyone who read the story should have the context.

"Facebook Powerball" lottery? Endorsed by Obama, but he has to send the taxes to Africa? Oh. Well, maybe she's one of those idiots.

Gleno's avatarGleno

This story is proof that "what you sometimes read on the Internet is not always true." 

Why would  anyone believe that the President, who has more important duties and pressing issues, even endorse this kind of message, which should have been a "red flag" .

Sorry to read that she sent the crooks $750.00.     

Facebook is a marketing tool. MZ's concept of a "Friends" social media network  is a clever endeavor, that has made him millions to his credit but we should use some  common sense. 

 No No

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

You can't fix "gormless"Smash

pickone4me's avatarpickone4me

Quote: Originally posted by Gleno on May 24, 2014

This story is proof that "what you sometimes read on the Internet is not always true." 

Why would  anyone believe that the President, who has more important duties and pressing issues, even endorse this kind of message, which should have been a "red flag" .

Sorry to read that she sent the crooks $750.00.     

Facebook is a marketing tool. MZ's concept of a "Friends" social media network  is a clever endeavor, that has made him millions to his credit but we should use some  common sense. 

 No No

I say the same about mainstream media on tv.  "what you sometimes see on the tv news is not always true, or accurate"

cynthhss9's avatarcynthhss9

Quote: Originally posted by mediabrat on May 24, 2014

She's lucky she only lost $750.  Others have lost thousands of dollars to these scams.

As for the idiot a few posts up trying to bring politics into it, that wasn't the point of this story and it has no place here.

Typical NY liberal Puke

cynthhss9's avatarcynthhss9

Quote: Originally posted by Gleno on May 24, 2014

This story is proof that "what you sometimes read on the Internet is not always true." 

Why would  anyone believe that the President, who has more important duties and pressing issues, even endorse this kind of message, which should have been a "red flag" .

Sorry to read that she sent the crooks $750.00.     

Facebook is a marketing tool. MZ's concept of a "Friends" social media network  is a clever endeavor, that has made him millions to his credit but we should use some  common sense. 

 No No

Why would anyone not believe Obama didn't take time off from golfing, vacationing and fundraising for crooks to put his stamp of approval on this "phony" scandal?

Drenick1's avatarDrenick1

Quote: Originally posted by mediabrat on May 24, 2014

She's lucky she only lost $750.  Others have lost thousands of dollars to these scams.

As for the idiot a few posts up trying to bring politics into it, that wasn't the point of this story and it has no place here.

Politics was an important factor in her decision as the alledged endorsement of Obama appeals to his base. Anyone who doesn't agree with the president's idiology would have quickly ignored the solicitation. The victim was probably aware of Barrack Obama's African heritage which is why she fell for the scam.

You're the clueless idiot who couldn't make the relevant connection in this story.

Drenick1's avatarDrenick1

Quote: Originally posted by cynthhss9 on May 24, 2014

Why would anyone not believe Obama didn't take time off from golfing, vacationing and fundraising for crooks to put his stamp of approval on this "phony" scandal?

Those who oppose Obama would have known better. It's his supporters who feel he is looking out for them and is the main reason other than greed to fall prey to such a comical scam.

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