Never underestimate the resourcefulness of crooks! If there’s a place for them to operate they’re there in a hurry. That means I shouldn’t really be surprise to get what looks like a 419 scam message via Facebook.
Ansu Sonko hello how are u there i hope u are fine and well am ansu from the gambia 22old can we be friendships u can add me ansusonko@****mail.com di u have msn what is ur name and age where are u from what is ur job what are ur hobbiest my is learning football ok and mucian
Ansu ‘friended’ me on Facebook. My policy is to accept all requests because many viewers I don’t personally know request it. I’ve come to a point where I believe that’s a good thing¹.
His message was posted multiple times on my profile. He left it on a video, wall post and as a comment to a link.
It’s not the broken English that leads me to conclude it’s a scam², it’s that he’s trying to move the conversation off Facebook to regular email. He understands his time on Facebook is limited. It won’t take long for him to be banned.
An email conversation gives Ansu freer reign to work his magic without supervision.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Big city residents lock their doors. Country folk often don’t. Facebook has become more-and-more a city full of strangers.
For a site that claims it wants to “make the world more open and connected” this is a sad moment.
¹ – Originally I thought I’d keep Facebook for more traditional friends. Some people were offended when ignored. I would be too. Once I realized that my policy changed.
² – The official language of The Gambia is English. It is a former English colony.
I considered, long and hard, getting onto facebook or the other social networking sites.
Unfortunately, the scammer factor is high enough just with an e-mail address or three, so I decided to ‘not bother’. Doesn’t help that most of them are blocked at work, either.
It’s kind of sad, in a way, because it is hard to re-make contacts with friends and shipmates by just looking for names and e-mail addresses. Obviously this example is a scammer, but there are just too many of them out there to make it safe to get friended automagically.
Sad in a rather fundamental way, I guess, since from reading your posts and comments, you do have a lot of good friends, and are making more every day. Guess you really have to be selective…