Facebook scams surface in Wichita

Scammers are looking like friends in Sedgwick County — Facebook friends, that is.

The Sedgwick County Consumer Protection Division received recent reports of scammers posing as Facebook friends of Wichita-area residents. The scammers copy Facebook profiles of real people and direct message the person’s friends to say hello or make small talk.

But after a few messages, the scammer asks: “Have you heard about the federal government grant?”

Eventually, the scammer seeks money by claiming the person needs to pay fees or taxes to access the grant funds.

Dan Dillon, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, which oversees the Consumer Protection Division, received the scam twice. But in the end, he didn’t fall for it.

“If you see a number you don’t know at home (on caller ID), you don’t answer,” Dillon said. “But if I see someone I know on Facebook, I’ll answer it.”

Dillon said a scammer contacted him with that scenario under the guise of one of his Facebook friends’ names in November. When the scammer asked him if he’d heard of the federal government grant, he knew it was a scam and ignored the fake account.

“I didn’t bring it up to anyone at the time because I thought it was an isolated incident,” he said.

But Dillon said he received a similar friend request last week and knew to discard it. Two other residents reported the same messages from imposter Facebook friends. Another consumer said they received a government grant scam separate from Facebook, and two others reported sweepstakes scams.

But the overarching rule is not to pay money to receive money.

“If you don’t pull out your wallet, you can’t become a victim,” said Avery Elofsson, assistant district attorney, who oversees the Consumer Protection Division.

Eloffson said scammers often request money on prepaid gift cards. That should be an obvious giveaway, he said.

“Government agencies do not barter,” he said.

Even though people don’t need to pay money to get money, he said, “Why on earth would the federal government want a Target gift card?”

If you think you might be the victim of a scam, call the Consumer Protection Division at 316-660-3653.

This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Facebook scams surface in Wichita."