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Intruder Hacks Into Colorado Woman's Facebook Page

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Feb 11, 2009 7:58 am US/Mountain

Intruder Hacks Into Colorado Woman's Facebook Page

Incident May Be State's First Fraud Case Involving Facebook

Reporting
Jodi Brooks
ERIE, Colo. (CBS4) ― Facebook connects friends all over the world, but now hackers are using the popular Web site to scam members.

Reports have come in from across the country about people having their Facebook pages hijacked. Now the first possible case in Colorado has surfaced.

When it comes to social networking Facebook is the latest rage. Initially Donna Lu Gamberg says she resisted.

"I had so many friends that sent me the email saying we want to add you as a friend and for a year I just would delete it, delete it," she said.

But she caved eventually and began to add her own friends. Like most Facebook fans, she shares a lot of information about herself.

"There is a lot of info on there and when you think it's just your friends you feel comfortable with that," she said.

Over the weekend Gamberg received a phone call from a Facebook friend from out of state.

"She's said 'Donna Lu, please call me as soon as you get this message. Somebody is ... I'm chatting with you and it sounds like you need help, and so I'm very worried,'" she said.

Someone had hacked into Gamberg's Facebook account and had started chatting.

Her poser wrote "I'm in London. I've been robbed. Send money."

Gamberg called her friend and together they logged onto Facebook. The message from the poser was cleared by the time they were logged back in.

"So she sent a message to me saying 'Are you still there?'"

Gamberg didn't respond. She and her friend just waited.

"And then all of a sudden we both saw it -- it popped up under my name and it said, 'Yeah I'm still here. What's going on?' I mean it gave me chills."

Gamberg reported the incident to Facebook and Facebook responded by email stating it is investigating.

"It was a creepy feeling, and that's the first time that kind of incident happened to me," she said.

Gamberg says she plans to report the case to the FBI and the Better Business Bureau. She has also changed her computer passwords and changed her online status so no one knows when she's logged on.

She has even considered closing her Facebook account.

One thing Facebook stressed in it's email was not to click on any strange links -- even if they are sent by friends.

Here are some other ways to stay safe on social network sites.

-- Always attempt to call or send an email to confirm a situation before wiring money.

-- If you're not sure whether or not the person you are interacting with digitally is truly the person they say they are, try asking a question only your friend would only know the answer to.

-- Make sure your computer's antivirus and firewall software is up to date.

When CBS4 checked with the FBI and the BBB they said had not received any reports here in Colorado of Facebook fraud, so Gamberg may be the state's first victim.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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