Skip to main content

Facebook: Don't befriend a stranger!

Facebook users in Malaysia readily accept "friendship" requests from strangers, says criminologist and Malaysian Association of Certified Fraud Examiners president Datuk Akhbar Satar.

Malaysians should think twice about approving appeals for friendship from people they do not know, he says.

Many feel good when they suddenly become "popular" as indicated by the numerous applications.

They reveal a lot of themselves such as birth dates, addresses, telephone numbers and alluring photos to the so-called Facebook friends who now have access to these details which are found on the users' profile pages.

They are particularly vulnerable to all kinds of abuse.

Trusting Facebook users are everywhere.

A friend from the Philippines recently picked up a message on Facebook from a man who wanted to be her friend. He told her that he was attracted to her profile picture on Facebook and pestered her with messages for more than a month.

He began to wax lyrical about her beauty. And then he confessed that he was in love with her. It went on and on.

She soon discovered that it was all a scam and the scumbag was not what he had portrayed himself to be.

All he wanted was money and he instructed her to inform her bank to wire it to him.

"I am not that stupid," was her response. "How can I fall in love with a man I have not met."

She sighed with relief after she told him off.

But other women who believed the sweet nothings whispered by the con artists were not so lucky.

They lost all their savings in a Facebook drama full of lies and deception.

Their real friends tried to warn them, but they would not listen.

Comments

Popular Posts

When a card came out of the blue ...

This post is prompted by a remark made by my good friend Wei Lin. She saw me reading a card I had received from a friend recently and said: "Traditional cards are so old-fashioned." I wondered if that was true and decided to probe into the issue. A Google search revealed numerous articles on the debate between traditional paper-based cards and e-cards. Tracey Grady's examination of the pros and cons of each type is informative. In my opinion, e-cards are not substitutes for the real (traditional) ones and they shouldn't be. I treat e-card e-mails with suspicion because spammers could be using them to download viruses and software onto my computer. I have never sent anyone an e-card and I don't plan to; I dislike the cold impersonality of conveying greetings electronically. I have always liked sending and receiving cards the traditional way. The ritual of going to a bookshop, browsing at the card section, picking a suitable one for the recipient and then walking to...

A spot of rural tranquillity in Ipoh

Your nerves are frayed and you need a dose of pleasingly rustic ambience without having to leave the city. There is such a spot for you, if you are in Ipoh. All you need to do is head for a block of flats called Kinta Heights in Pekan Lama, Ipoh, Perak, which is next to the Kinta River, one of the main branches of the Perak River. Unbelievable, as it may seem, there are several nasi kandar outlets and sundry shops in the vicinity, set in the greenery, with a view and a walking path. I suggest that you have lunch at Ramli Nasi Kandar and after that, take a very short walk to the river bank for your rural retreat. You might be motivated to spend 10 minutes or more in total silence and tranquillity. This is the place I go to again and again. Ramli Nasi Kandar is next to the sundry shop A short bridge to the river bank  You will feel irritated by people putting litter on the ground but I refuse to allow that to distract me. There is a 'Do not litter' notice her...

Dealing with death of a loved one

Today marks the end of Rabiaa's mourning period. She had completed four months and 10 days or 130 days of grieving, the stipulated period for expressing sorrow for Muslim widows.  The death of her husband on Dec 30, 2020 was expected  but it still came as a huge shock to her. It was too sudden, she felt. Yet  observers would not agree. Her husband became bedridden in mid-November after a collision between his big bike and a car which had come from the opposite direction after taking an illegal turn.  In addition to being bedridden, Anwar, lost his voice which was the direct result of the  brain injury he had suffered after the accident. He was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. How does Rabiaa feel now? The pain is bearable but the memories remain as vivid as ever. She is still unwilling to clear up all of her husband's things and some items remain in their original positions as before he became bound to the bed. His belongings connect Rabiaa to Anwar and sh...