Police warn of Facebook scam targeting women

The Guyana Police Force is alerting citizens, particularly females, of a scam involving persons suspected of pretending to be of Nigerian nationality.

According to the police, the mastermind would send a Facebook friend request to the intended victim.

After being accepted, he subsequently requests their phone number for communication via WhatsApp.

“As time progresses, the mastermind, who is apparently residing overseas, expresses an amorous interest in the intended victim and indicates that he would be sending some gifts for her, including jewellery,” the police statement noted.

The police caution that the victim would later receive a call from someone purporting to be employed at a shipping company informing them that a box has arrived at the airport for her.

The caller would indicate that custom officials scanned the box and observed that it contains money; the victim would then be threatened with prosecution.

“At this juncture, the intended victim is informed that she will have to pay various sums of money to a number of individuals in order to avoid prosecution and uplift the box. These monies are to be sent to identified persons through Money Transfer Services or a Post Office,” the statement further added.

Once the monies are sent, the mastermind is never heard from again and the victim is defrauded of the money sent, the police warned.

No information on the number of persons already victims of this scam was released by the police.