Facebook 'Friend' Emergency Latest Online Scam

Fraudsters posing as friends who need emergency cash are scamming Facebook users out of thousands of dollars, CNN reports. Criminals filch Facebook identities, then bombard their friends with desperate-sounding messages pleading for money. The scammers often claim to have been robbed in a foreign country and beg the friend to help out with an immediate wire transfer to a hotel address.

"It's an invasion of your whole privacy, who your friends are," said one man who wired $1,000 to London to help a "friend" who had supposedly been robbed at gunpoint—only to discover later he was safe at home. Facebook urges users to keep passwords secure and be wary of anyone—even friends—asking for cash.
(More scam stories.)