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Rockford woman warns of fraudulent Facebook messages

Posted at 9:41 PM, Feb 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-27 22:27:38-05

ROCKFORD, Mich. – A West Michigan woman is speaking out after she says someone tried to con her on social media. Luckily, she didn’t hand over any money.

Sandra Wiersma likes to stay connected on Facebook, but says she was almost ripped off after someone tried to get in touch with her on Facebook Messenger.

“Yeah I got a request on messenger from my friend in Florida,” says Wiersma. "They even had the picture of her, her granddaughter and her daughter, and it came through on messenger.”

Wiersma is retired and lives in Rockford. She says she thought it was strange to get a message request from a person she was already friends with on the site.

“All of a sudden she says you got to contact this Jonathan person,” says Wiersma.

When the person she was chatting with said they won a bunch of money, that’s when she became suspicious of a potential scheme.

“Big government agency saying you are going to receive $90,000 in just 24 hours,” says Wiersma.

The person offered to split the money with Sandra if she could handle the $1,500 processing fee, and provide some background information.

“He wanted my telephone number my birth date, my address of where I lived. He says we need a photo ID. And I thought no way no how you are not getting that.”

Sandra ended up calling her friend directly and learned from her that she had never actually been chatting with her online.

The police were called and came to investigate.

If you experience something on social media that doesn’t seem right, make sure not to give out any personal information and contact authorities.