A woman has been conned out of $56,000 due to a Facebook lottery scam.
Helen, from Perth, spoke out about the scam on Today Tonight and revealed she fears her and her husband could lose everything they’ve worked all their lives for.
Today Tonight
The 71-year-old explained how it started when she received a Facebook message, which looked like it was from her friend of ten years, Robyn.
‘My friend, Robyn, texted me and said she’d just got a $52,000 grant from this Facebook lottery (and) ‘you want to apply for it?’ and send me the link,’ Helen told the show.
Unfortunately, Helen now knows that the person messaging her was a scammer, who had stolen Robyn’s name and profile picture.
Helen was sent a video from Robyn promoting the lottery, before receiving a notification that she’d won $10,000.
But to receive the money, she’d have to transfer $8,000 for delivery from the US.
Despite sending the cash, Helen’s delivery never arrived.
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Scammers claimed they were at home to make the handover, but were lying.
Over the next fortnight, the scammers were constantly contacting Helen, demanding money to cover things like taxes, postage and changing delivery companies.
All the while, ‘Robyn’ was reassuring her it was legitimate.
Helen has since demanded to get her money back and even tried ringing Robyn on Facebook messenger.
So far, she’s had little luck and is still being bombarded by messages asking for more.
One message even claimed to be from former UK Prime Minister, Theresa May.
Speaking out about experience, Helen said, 'I wanted to let people know how easy it is to get scammed and certainly don’t go for Facebook lotteries.'
Kathryn LewseyKathryn is a Senior Features Writer for that's life! magazine. Her work has been published in The Sun, Daily Mail, Chat, Closer, Kidspot, Real People, Take a Break and MarieClaire.com.au
