Greg's Corner

Scam uses your own friends to trick you

Police in South Carolina are warning residents about a scam that is using the victim’s own friends against them. In this scam, you might see a video taken by an actual friend on social media. In the video, the friend will say that they received thousands of dollars for next to nothing. The main problem with the video is that the friend hasn’t actually received any money. They were instructed by the scammer to make the video saying they got the money before they could get the money. In actuality, there’s no money to be had and you’re friend has been the victim of a scam.

The victims in this scam are told to send a couple of hundred dollars to a phony social media account and then they could receive thousands of dollars. Before they get any money the victims are told to make a video saying that they’ve already received the money before they can the money they were promised. This, in turn, is intended to get other victims to send the scammers money by playing on the trust of their friends. However, once the money is sent to the scammer, the scammer disappears as does the money.

Any post on social media that promises to deliver money to you for doing very little is almost guaranteed to be a scam. As the police in South Carolina said: “No one gives away free money.” If you see one of your friends posting a video like this, you may want to break the news to them that they’ve been scammed. It’s also advised that if you’ve been a victim in a scam like this to contact your local police department.