Using Social Media platforms in Cyber Criminal activity is very common from last decade. Creating fake profiles with same name, details and it looks same replica of the original. Facebook is very popular social networking platforms, everyone uses Facebook. Now days many fraudsters are using Facebook to create fake Facebook profile and sending friend request to users who are connected to actual Facebook profile.
According to ethical hacking researcher of International Institute of Cyber Security (iiCyberSecurity), cyber crimes are increasing day by day in India and that too are done by people with not so technical background. Many cyber criminals are using social engineering techniques to make money. Following steps are used by cyber criminals to make money.
Step 1 : Finding Victims Facebook Profile
- First cyber criminal will find victim profile.
- For testing purposes we have used Facebook profile named as Sonia Kohli.
Step 2 : Creating Fake Facebook Profile same as Victim
- Cyber criminal will Create replica of original Facebook profile.
- Below you can see there is no difference between fake and original profile.
Step 3 : Sending Friend Request to Victim Friend’s
- Now cyber criminal will send friend request to the victim friends. Victim friends will accept request as if it is coming from the original user.
- Cyber criminal will look in friends photo’s, likes and comments them.
Step 4 : Cyber Criminal Start Chat With Victim Friend And Asking For Money
- You can see below that victim friends are now connected and started chat with cyber criminal.
- Here cyber criminal started chat with victim friend with basic talk’s and then asking for money, by saying “his friend is admitted in hospital with critical condition, please send money“.
- Asking victim friend to send money.
Step 5 : Money Received By Cyber Criminal
- Below screenshot shows that money has received by cyber criminal.
Step 6 : Asking Victim To Send Screenshot Of Money Transfer
- Paytm (Money transfer service in India) Money Transfer Screenshot
- Above screenshot shows the money transfer successful on cyber criminal Paytm number.
So to sum up, it is always wise to check and connect to new friends on Facebook. If you feel something is wrong, always check before you connect.
Cyber Security Researcher. Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator. He is a cyber-security researcher with over 25 years of experience. He has served with the Intelligence Agency as a Senior Intelligence Officer. He has also worked with Google and Citrix in development of cyber security solutions. He has aided the government and many federal agencies in thwarting many cyber crimes. He has been writing for us in his free time since last 5 years.
