A few days ago, an old friend chatted me on WhatsApp, and was asking if I could do him a favor and transfer 100,000 naira, equivalent of $70, into an account, that he's having network issues to do the transfer from were he was. With my experience about online scams, I suspected that my friend's WhatsApp might have been hacked, I immediately called him and he told me to disregard the message, that his WhatsApp is hacked. Scammers are in Facebook, WhatsApp, telegram and the rest of them, so people must try to be informed about their activities.
Suppose a scammer manages to hack someone's accounts on social media accounts, steal a victim's phone, or perform SIM swapping. In that case, he can send such deceptive messages to the account's followers or the victim's contact list, as happened in your friend's WhatsApp story, or by spreading phishing links or sending malicious files, so we cannot believe everything we read, even if they are people in our contacts unless verifying it by calling or meet them if the matter is related to money and one of the important matters. A sudden request for money and a change in how your friend communicates with you will certainly raise suspicions. Frankly, Facebook is like the rest of the other platforms and communication applications where scammers are active. They impersonate accounts of public figures and promote their traps through advertisements. Therefore, every person must be cautious before taking any action and take enough time for sufficient verification, investigation, and research.
