Authorities Warn People of Scams on Social Media

Source: Vientiane Times

The authorities are warning people to beware of scams taking place on online social media, especially on Facebook.

All Facebook users should be aware of the risk of fraud through Facebook Messenger, when they may be asked to transfer money to people who are purportedly in distress or because of some other unusual event.

This form of computer crime in the form of “Scammer” is spreading in Laos at present, according to the Lao Security News.

Fraud takes various forms and may involve an invitation to enter into a business partnership, an invitation to borrow money with interest, a fraudulent claim that a person has won a prize, a request for help and a large amount of money, someone pretending that you are a girlfriend, that you have been left a large amount of money by a billionaire who has just died, a request to transfer money but with certain conditions, and victims being asked to pay money into the scammer’s account.

Regular users of social media will know that there are many types of scam, delivered through e-mail, Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, Messenger, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.

Everyone should be careful when using these platforms and be suspicious of any unlikely request to transfer money for whatever reason or message relating to sudden good fortune.

These incidents commonly occur because one’s Facebook account has been hacked. This means it’s important to protect your account, as described in the following recommendations.

Firstly, set a password to that is difficult to guess and has a combination of numbers, letters and symbols comprising at least 8 characters, and change this password every month. Do not save the password with the browser because there may be people using the same computer.

Set up two-factor authentication. Add the phone number of another person you can trust to your Facebook account to be used if you forget the password.

If you lose a mobile phone, quickly enter your Facebook account from another device to log out of the Facebook account system of the lost phone.

Do not share your Facebook account with other people, no matter how well you know them.

This advice contains only some of the ways people can protect themselves from being hacked, but they are effective and should be used, as these days many forms of fraud are appearing on Facebook. But if users are careful, it’s easy to reduce the chances of becoming the victim of a scam.

Friends and close relatives of those who have been hacked should exercise caution when receiving messages. They should consider the nature and content of the message and decide whether it is abnormal in any way. Uncertainty requires a call to the sender to confirm its authenticity.