Request Media Kit

Facebook ‘Powerball’ Scam Screws Woman out of $10K

Neither Facebook nor its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are ever going to give you money, unless you’re a charity – then you might get a fat donation from Zuck. But for average, everyday people on Facebo...
Facebook ‘Powerball’ Scam Screws Woman out of $10K
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Neither Facebook nor its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are ever going to give you money, unless you’re a charity – then you might get a fat donation from Zuck. But for average, everyday people on Facebook, anyone claiming to have money for you is lying.

    Most of us would reply duh to that – but some of the oldest scams in the book continue to rob Facebook users of incredible sums of money.

    The latest hoax to do so involves a so-called “Facebook Powerball” lottery, supposedly sponsored by Mark Zuckerberg himself.

    A Pennsylvania woman was recently duped, and lost nearly $9,500 as a result.

    WTAE says:

    The woman was contacted by a friend’s account, but the account had been hacked. The suspect then told the woman that she had won a Facebook Powerball lottery that was hosted by Mark Zuckerberg himself. The woman was informed she needed to send $1,000 to receive $100,000, $2,000 to receive $200,000 and so on.

    The suspect informed the woman she needed to send $1,000 via Western Union to an individual in Mobile, Alabama.

    After sending the money, the woman was told that the UPS truck that was delivering her money was stopped by the IRS. The suspect then told the woman she needed to wire transfer $8,500 to an account in Atlanta, which she did, after being advised the money would be delivered to her address within 24 hours.

    The ol’ send money to make money scam – for the social media age.

    It was only when the woman was told her money had been seized by the police after her UPS driver died in a crash that she began to get suspicious. Only then.

    I guess I’ll go add ‘Zuckerberg lottery scam’ to the growing list of hoaxes that people keep falling for, inexplicably.

    Get the WebProNews newsletter
    delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit