Facebook ‘infiltrated by Nigerian fraudsters’

Criminals are hijacking Facebook accounts to con other members of the social networking site into sending them money, in the latest cyber scam.Fraudsters send messages to the compromised user’s friends claiming they are in trouble overseas and asking them for cash.Online security experts have warned that cyber criminals are using more sophisticated methods – including social networks – as web users wise up to traditional email frauds.
www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/3438012/Facebook-infiltrated-by-Nigerian-fraudsters.htmlHow a Facebook scam leads to a Chinese email harvesting site – and back again
Reports of your friends – and everyone else’s friends – being adrift in a war-torn place where strangely enough they can somehow manage to update their Facebook profile to say “Send money!” are exaggerated.But Facebook has a problem: “Nigerian scammers” – by which we mean scammers of any nationality, but aiming to get money off you by conning you – have infiltrated it and are breaking into accounts, and using them to send messages pleading for money.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/nov/11/facebook-scam-email-chinaFacebook hit by Nigerian 419 scam
Scammers are trawling Facebook for victims using a convincing twist on the notorious ‘Nigerian 419’ scam. Normally, 419 scams are easy to spot and involve email requests for money from supposedly rich individuals in countries such as Nigeria, from which the fraud gets its name. The latest Facebook attack is much craftier, however, because it hijacks the identities of real people known to Facebook members, asking for money under an apparently plausible guise.
computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/5F778C44DCA2E9B6CC2574FE00154E3E
http://computerworld.com.au/article/266860/