Facebook Lets Fraudsters Run Wild

Facebook are all too quick to destroy free speech for conservatives, but when it comes to stopping fraudsters, the social media giant just doesn’t care!

When Charlotte Wilkinson was unable to log into her Facebook account, she assumed she must have inputted the wrong password.

But when she then tried to reset her details, she discovered she had been locked out of her email account, too.

It turned out that, unbeknown to her, fraudsters had seized control of her account and were using her name to con her friends and family out of thousands of pounds.

The crooks had sent some of her 400 Facebook friends requests for donations for fictional good causes, and used her profile to advertise goods that didn’t even exist.

In one case, a friend had almost £2,000 stolen from his PayPal account, after he was convinced to share his account details.

Despite a friend alerting Facebook on May 8, fraudsters were still using the mother-of-two’s account to target victims two weeks later.

Along with her friends and family, Charlotte, 34, a mobile hairdresser, made hundreds of reports about the hacked account — but Facebook did not take any action.

Charlotte told her friends and family about the misuse of her account, but when they tried to warn others, by posting on her Facebook wall, the fraudsters blocked them.

And when they reported the fraudsters’ posts to Facebook, it said it did not violate community policies.

Charlotte says: ‘There’s no phone number, email or contact details.

‘I’ve completed numerous forms trying to get Facebook’s attention that my account has been hacked and people are being defrauded, but its robot system comes back saying it cannot detect anything wrong.’

She also reported the matter to the police — but they referred her back to Facebook.

Friends and family who challenged the fraudster online were sent explicit pictures in response, and the fraudsters also posted pornographic images of blonde women on Charlotte’s page, which she believes had been chosen to match her appearance.

Meanwhile, a fake GoFundMe donation page was set up in Charlotte’s name — supposedly to raise funds for a terminally ill child.

Three donations totalling £40 had already been made before the page was taken down.

One victim handed over £400 for a mobile phone she thought Charlotte was selling, while two others paid £150 each for lifelike dolls.

When the products failed to show up, the buyers tracked down her husband, Nick, 35, at his work to demand answers. He has since deleted his account.

Charlotte says: ‘I feel like it’s my fault that people lost money — but it was out of my hands. I tried everything to get this account closed, but Facebook did nothing.’

It was not until Money Mail intervened on Charlotte’s behalf that the technology giant eventually suspended her account.

But, just one week later, the account was made active again, allowing the fraudster to begin posting more adverts, before it was closed for a second time.

Lawyer Gary Rycroft, at Joseph A. Jones & Co, says Facebook had been negligent. He says: ‘In its failure of providing duty of care to investigate, rather than dismiss, it has enabled this crime.

‘The lack of action is also a disappointing reflection of its corporate responsibility and how terribly it deals with customers.

At the moment, Facebook can get away with this because there is nothing to stop it legally. It is too big and arrogant to take any notice.’

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