A sophisticated fraudster has been sentence to prison for 15 months for stealing £35,000 (over $57,000) by pillaging Facebook accounts of its victims. The man, Iain Wood from New Castle, admitted to get past online bank security checks of neighbors’ bank account after determining their password by using their personal details posted on Facebook.
Wood was reported to spent 18 hours a day on Facebook to find out personal information about his acquaintances. He will logged into his victims’ bank accounts and tried to reset their password, by first claiming he had forgotten his password. Using clues gleaned from Facebook , he would attempt to answer security questions to bypass the password requirement. Typically he changed the address details of victim’s account and would withdraw cash with replacement cards he received in the post since changing address is rarely protected by two-factor authentication.
He stole the money between June 2008 and June 2010 and used it for gambling. His scam unraveled when in November 2009 he made an error of transferring money out of a neighbor’s account into his own. When he was arrested by the police he said, “Have you been on to me for a while?” This has led to more suspicion and on being searched his apartment police found bank account PIN, passport belonging to another victim and bills and other related paper works.
It is reminder to all Facebook users that we should be very cautious of not only what we click on Facebook but also whom we become friends as well as what we share on the social network. It is best to keep our own private information or at lease personal details on social media shouldn’t be use the same for other essential online services like banking.
{ 0 comments }
