‘I’m Pissed!’: Woman Conned By Facebook Scammers — But Social Media Giant Won’t Remove Post

CHICAGO (CBS) — What’s successful a name? Facebook is hoping for a caller commencement aft announcing its genitor institution has changed its sanction to “Meta.” But a caller moniker doesn’t hole aged problems that person plagued the societal media level for years – and those problems are inactive claiming victims. Among those problems are scam artists, who impersonate radical to con wealth retired of those people’s household and friends.

Such is the lawsuit for Vera Waters, a Chicago nonmigratory who is informing others aft her experience. “I’m pissed, due to the fact that my individuality was stolen,” she told WBBM-TV.

READ MORE: Report: Raiders Wide Receiver Henry Ruggs III Facing DUI Charge After Fatal Crash

It takes courageousness to admit erstwhile you’ve made a mistake. But immoderate embarrassment Waters has astir what happened to her is outweighed by her tendency to marque definite it doesn’t hap to anyone else.

It started erstwhile a relative messaged her connected Facebook successful July astir a authorities grant. “She was telling maine that she got the grant, and you don’t person to wage it back,” Waters said, “and she was like, ‘Do you privation maine to springiness you the scoop connected it?’ I was like, ‘Well, yeah, definite – spell for it.’”

The committedness was for thousands of dollars, with pictures of checks and transfers serving arsenic “proof” it was legit.

Waters wanted it to wage disconnected her debt, truthful she sent her idiosyncratic information. She besides made a video, arsenic directed, successful which she stood successful beforehand of a reflector portion holding up her driver’s licence and said: “I convey the authorities for approving maine of this grant. It’s existent money, and you don’t person to wage it back, and everyone tin apply. Thank you.”

READ MORE: Supply Chain Issues: How Global Shortages Are Affecting Consumers Nationwide

“They conscionable truly effort to marque you conscionable truly judge that, and you do!” Waters said.

Shortly afterward, she realized her mistake. It was scammers messaging her, pretending to beryllium her cousin. Soon aft that, she said she was locked retired of her Facebook page. Then, the hackers took the video and turned it astir to effort to scam Waters’ friends. “A batch of my friends started inboxing me, you know, telling maine the idiosyncratic came to them and was trying to get them,” Waters said.

She and her friends went to Facebook’s Help Center, to study Waters’ leafage and get it removed. But successful an email, the societal media elephantine said her illustration “doesn’t spell against Community Standards.”

“You would deliberation that Facebook would spot each of this worldly and halt it, you cognize what I’m saying,” Waters said. “But no.”

It has been astir 4 months since reporting the scam, and Waters is fearful that the video she made could inactive beryllium hurting others.“I don’t privation the adjacent person’s individuality to beryllium stolen, you know, to beryllium a unfortunate of individuality theft,” she said.

MORE NEWS: Sheriff: DUI Suspect Tailgated Deputy On I-80, Led High-Speed Chase In The Rain

WBBM-TV reached retired to Facebook to find retired wherefore her leafage hadn’t been unopen down. A spokeswoman did respond, asking for much circumstantial accusation astir Waters’ account, and promised that their teams volition look into it.