I’ve read about it, seen it online, but I honestly wondered if a Facebook Messenger account can really get hacked? I mean to be honest, from the stories that I’ve read and the things I’ve seen online – I was skeptical. That was until it almost happened to us.
Yesterday was the 15th of the month. It’s sweldo day, so for Yaya B – it means I would be sending her salary via GCash. So mid-morning yesterday, she sent me a reminder on sending her the GCash, and I did. I sent her the screenshot as proof as I usually do.
And then a little before 1:00PM, I received a message from Yaya B. It was quite strange because…
It was not normal, kaya I replied with ‘Totoo ba ito?’
It was really strange because – she was never liked that. If she needed something, she would always approach me – face to face. I found it really weird, I mean really really weird BUT she has a son named John, but she never called him that.
It got more strange because, Yaya B was initiating a video call. So, I answered the call and saw Yaya B’s face but it wasn’t moving – she was still, her screen was frozen. I even heard her say ‘Mam, hindi po kita makita!’. It did not register to me that this might be a scam, I was just a bit worried since – I just sent her GCash (through her personal number) so why was she asking for help? The funny thing was, she kept repeating ‘mahina po signal! mahina po signal!’ This got me riled up because at home Yaya B is hooked to our mesh wifi, and that means – she has RELIABLE access to internet.
This made me call her mobile number, not over the internet, not using any form of wifi, but an actual mobile phone call. When she answered, I angrily said ‘B, BAKIT MO SINABING MAHINA ANG SIGNAL, EH NAKA-KABIT KA SA WIFI NG BAHAY?’ To which she replied ‘ANO PO?’ She sounded confused, which made me more angry! I then reminded her of her message, I told he to check her messages to understand. She then checked and told me that her last message to me was ‘Salamat po’. I told her – ‘Hindi iyan, yung pagkatapos ng message na yan – YUNG NANGHIHINGI KA NG GCASH – ANO BA ANG NANGYARI?’ She insisted that there was no message after the ‘salamat’ so I sent her screen shots of the message thread, and she replied via Messenger that it was her!
This was just too much, so I called YAYA B again and repeated the same line. Yaya B was saying, wala po akong na-send ma message. This made me upset, because in my head – she didn’t understand what was happening! She repeated her reply WALA PO AKONG NA-SEND NA MESSAGE PAG TAPOS NG ‘Salamat po’. But there was proof that she sent the messages – it was on my messenger screen. So to make her understand, I took screen shots and sent it to her. I called her on her mobile and told her to change all her passwords na.
It was then that I had a feeling, it was a scam. When I got home, I showed Yaya B our message thread on my Facebook Messenger, she read her supposed messaged and declared ANG GALING MAM, ENGLISH PA PO YUNG MESSAGE, EH HINDI NAMAN AKO MARUNONG MAG ENGLISH.
She was absolutely right! I just noticed that the spelling and words used in that message was so OUT OF CHARACTER for her because of the spelling and wording. Yaya won’t use the word URGENT because she’s unfamiliar with that word. She then told me that there were similar messages sent to her husband, and her sons – even to some of her relatives! All of them were confused as well and had the presence of mind to indulge the sender and saying it was a scam.
NOW, I BELIEVE THAT HACKING THE FACEBOOK MESSENGER IS REAL. How it was done? I have no clue how, but Kailee said that Yaya B might have clicked on a link or something. Maybe?
So to everyone, THIS FACEBOOK MESSENGER HACKING IS REAL! Let’s all be vigilant. Let’s ask questions, verify, and so more. Scammers are getting creative – let’s not let the win.
Let’s be vigilant.