Aussies ‘losing thousands’ to fake Facebook lottery scam

People across Australia are being warned about a new Facebook lottery scam doing the rounds on social media.

According to Queensland Police, 30 people in the Sunshine State alone have lost hundreds of thousands by being conned by a very convincing scam tricking people into believing they’ve won the Facebook Lottery. Unfortunately, no such thing exists.

Victims are being contacted via Facebook by someone claiming to be a Facebook employee. The people are told they’ve won $7.5 million as part of the lottery, but are requested to pay legal, late and administrative fees to unlock their millions. In some cases, victims have been told to pay upfront fees of “hundreds of thousands”, while others are advised to set up payment via instalments.

The latest form of the scam sees people across the popular social network site sent realistic credit cards, complete with Facebook branding. In addition to money victims have already paid, they’re also told to pay an additional $7,500 to unlock the card and be sent their winnings.

“This is just a rehash of a number of long running phishing based lottery scam, just reinvented with a social media angle,” Queensland Police said in a statement.

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Detective Acting Superintendent Melissa Anderson of the Financial and Cyber Crime Group added there was no such thing as the Facebook Lottery and advised people to be careful if they were sent cards or messages online.

“There is no Facebook lottery and certainly no Facebook credit card,” she said. “Victims lose the $7,500 and every other instalment or fee they have paid. This is just another example of criminals targeting vulnerable members of the community.”

The most recent victim is from the Queensland town of Mackay and lost more than $100,000 in the scam. Police fear there may be other victims.

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“We continue to plead with the community to realise that if someone contacts you out of the blue to present you with winnings, a once in a lifetime opportunity or a chance to gain hundreds, thousands or millions of dollars, you MUST ignore it or seek independent advice to verify the claims,” Anderson added.

People are encouraged to be in control of their personal details and to be extremely careful with information shared online or to strangers over the phone. It’s also important to remember you can’t win lotteries unless you purchase tickets.

The latest scam comes just days after The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a fresh warning to over-60s, urging them to beware of scammers impersonating energy and telecommunications providers after a surge of complaints.

More and more, scammers are posing as representatives from well-known companies including Origin, AGL, Telstra and Optus to trick people out of money.

What do you think? Have you been sent this scam on Facebook? How do you protect yourself online and over the phone?