the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC ) continues to receive reports of Facebook Messenger social engineering scams. Messages are received from a Facebook account the target is “friends” with but whose account has been hacked. These messages vary but often include a link that leads to a website requesting the target’s Facebook account credentials. Some messages reported include language referring to a COVID-19 grant program and claiming the target can receive thousands of dollars. Previously reported scam messages contained phrases like “Hey I saw this video. Isn’t this you?” or claimed the sender is in trouble and needs money. These Facebook Messenger scams are prolific and have resulted in compromised Facebook accounts and monetary loss.