Never send money via Western Union or MoneyGram, or send personal information, to anyone who claims that you have won some so-called lottery, promotional offer, or has been chosen to receive a donation. This is because the people who are requesting the money or information are scammers, who were able to illegally harvest your telephone number, email address, or other personal information using phishing scams, social media like-farming or like-harvesting scams. Once scammers have gotten your information, they will attempt to convince you that you are a winner in some lottery game or you have been chosen to receive thousands of dollars in donation, and ask you to send them money that they claim are for taxes, delivery or processing fees, in order to receive your so-called prize.
Scammers know that we are living in a tough economic, and know that a lot of people are desperate to win money that they want to use to pay off the long over overdue utility bills, student loan, rent, mortgage or other expenses. So, they go gathering together their potential victims using social media like-farming scams, fake email and text messages.
Like-farming scam is one of the most effective methods used by scammers to gather together potential victims. Scammers create a fake eye-catching social media post of a dead person, a sick person, of a celebrity, about Jesus or God, and ask or instruct social media users to like, share or comment on it, to express condolences, sympathy or kindness. But, what most social media users don't know is that, after following the instructions in the post, the scammers will start sending them friend requests.
Social media users who fall for the scam and accept the friend requests will start receiving fake and malicious messages from the scammers, who will attempt to trick them in visiting phishing websites created to steal personal and financial information, or trick them into installing malicious applications that steal sensitive information. Or, trick them into sending money via Western Union, MoneyGram or other money transfer services, by claiming that they have won the lottery or received some form of donation.
Once you are asked to send money in order to receive some form of prize or donation, without a doubt, it is a scammer attempting to rob you of your hard-earned money. So, don't be fooled, think before sending that little money you have worked so hard for, to some despicable scammer who will live comfortably from your hard work.