Facebook Fakers Lure Air Talent Fans To Phony Business Deals
You listen to a radio station and like a particular air personality. Then, you happen to find what appears to be their social media profile.
Who knew that all of the interaction between the air talent’s listeners was with not the hosts, but impostors who hijacked the pages and then led listeners to invest in phony business investments?
That’s the trouble associated with two iHeartMedia air personalities in Chicago, illustrating yet another cybercrime ill impacting broadcast licensees across the U.S.
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As reported by WLS-7 in Chicago, Leon Rogers of the WGCI-FM morning show and WVAZ-FM “V103” part-timer Ericka “Sundance” Ingram each had their Facebook pages apparently taken over by hackers.
And, they claim fans who interacted with the fakers were asked to invest in phony business deals.
Among the listeners who apparently got caught up in the scam is one Phillip Vaser, who enjoys Rogers. Vasser spotted an opportunity posted on Rogers’ Facebook page to make some extra cash. He questioned it.
In an effort to prove Rogers’ identity, he sent a Facebook message to confirm the opportunity to make $1,000 from a $100 investment. “I said, I’m not sending you a dime unless you prove to me that you you!” Vasser told WLS-7. In return, Vasser received a picture of Rogers posing with his ID, in his house, with “legible reading of his face and his address.”
That was enough for Vasser … unfortunately. Vasser sent to the person he assumed was Rogers some $4,700 in gift card codes and bitcoin. Something seemed weird about it. The fake Rogers requested Vasser’s Facebook password and login information, claiming it was part of their verification efforts. Vasser complied; minutes later he was locked out of his Facebook account, with his money taken.
Vasser wasn’t the only person to fall for the scam. Rogers told WLS-7 he has received “thousands of messages” from people across the Chicago area who were ripped off.
How did the person behind the scheme get the photo of Rogers? Earlier in 2021 Rogers received a message he believed to be from Facebook. It asked him to send his login information and a video of him holding his ID up next to his face as an identity test.
Rogers did what was asked; he was subsequently locked out of his Facebook account.
For Ingram, she told WLS-7 a similar Facebook page takeover has occurred.
Has Facebook responded to Ingram or Rogers, who have reported the hacks “dozens of times” to the social media giant? No, they claim.
Contacted by WLS-7, Facebook parent Meta noted that its support team is reviewing both Rogers’ and Ingram’s accounts so they can take appropriate action.
