Perth grandmother scammed in Facebook con through AI hack

An embarrassed Perth grandmother has revealed how she was tricked into handing over $10,000 in a sophisticated internet scam.

Sally Marchant, 59, was chatting with a Facebook friend in December, but what she didn’t know was that she was actually talking to a scammer who had hacked her friend’s account using AI.

Her “friend” then told her about a contest opportunity where she could get $200,000 in exchange for an initial payment of $10,000.

Even though the scenario seemed hard to believe, Ms. Marchant sent the money because she trusted the person she was speaking to.

“They were very encouraging and said, ‘Yes, do it, do it,’” Ms Marchant said Nine news.

“I actually believed I was talking to my boyfriend and messaging him.”

The Perth grandmother used the mortgage on her house (pictured) to pay for the scam

READ MORE: Melbourne man loses $20,000 in devious new scam after single genuine text message

Three weeks after receiving this text message, a customer was scammed, which was confirmed as legitimate by his bank

Mrs. Marchant has called on her mortgage to get the $10,000.

But she then had second thoughts and called her boyfriend, who promptly informed her that they hadn’t talked and that he knew nothing about the alleged investment.

‘You can spend that on so many other wonderful things. So I was angry with myself, I was quite humiliated,” Ms Marchant said.

Consumer Protection Commissioner Trish Blake said Australians should be wary of any electronic messages discussing money options.

‘Any message saying you can win something (even) if it comes from someone saying they know you, please contact the person using the details you would normally contact them with, not through the message you received,” she says. said.

A fifth of all Australian money lost to fraud is siphoned off through social media platforms.

The federal government says that with enough resources, tech giants can do more to protect users.

Nearly 3,800 people reported $15.9 million in losses to scammers who started on social media platforms or online forums, according to the National Anti-Scam Center’s second quarter update since its inception.

Australians over the age of 65 were the most likely to fall victim to social media scams, with fraudsters typically using data from the platforms to strategically target people with bogus advertisements.

While the quarterly report recorded progress on social media-driven scam losses from the previous period, money lost this way had increased by 249 percent since 2020.

Losses from social media scams reached $95 million by 2023, with WhatsApp accounting for 47 percent of losses, Facebook 20 percent, online dating sites nine percent and Instagram another nine percent.

Speaking at the Global Fraud Summit in London, Australian Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said the social license of these digital companies is at risk.

The minister called Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, ‘the elephant in the room’.

“Here’s a message above all to Meta, who is responsible for some 80 percent of the losses: you are not above the law.”

Social media platforms are favorites of hackers, with around 67 percent of Australians’ losses to online scams happening through WhatsApp and Facebook

The federal government has consulted social media players and other companies on mandatory industry codes that require digital platforms, banks and telecom companies to curb the risk of scams or face fines.

Mr Jones said he was ‘disappointed’ in Meta’s response to the consultation.

“These guys are the greatest technologists in the world, they employ the best information technologists, the best engineers, the best process experts in the world, they are the biggest and the best.

“Don’t tell me they can’t do more.”

At the global summit, world leaders recognized the role of social media companies in allowing the spread of scams and the need for the wider industry to step up anti-fraud measures.

Policy advisor Alex Soderlund of consumer group Choice said urgent action is needed as big tech companies have “a perverse incentive not to crack down on scams because they generate advertising revenue.”

“So it’s clear that only strong, mandatory fraud prevention rules, developed and enforced by a regulator, will lead to any meaningful change for consumers,” Soderlund said.

The consumer group is one of 20 international companies that have signed a statement calling on social media and other tech companies to better protect people from scams, through concrete measures such as improving account verification and better surveillance, or face repercussions.