In a case of sophisticated social engineering, a fraudster created a fake profile of actor Vincent Gallo. He then proceeded to engage in a 2-month long scam, flirting online and sending the ex-girlfriend nude pictures of "himself", until she sent pics of herself and decided to fly in and meet him.
Gallo is suing Facebook over the fake profile, allegedly used to friend Gallo’s friends and acquaintances, for online sex chats, and to lure Los Angeles women to meet in person.
The bogus account had some 3,000 friends, including some of the real Gallo’s real friends and acquaintances. The Hollywood Reporter quoted the court papers:
The two had Facebook messenger conversations for a period of two months, where Doe 1 flirted, sent nude pictures from the waist down, and convinced her not only to send nude pictures back, but to travel from Europe to the United States to visit him. Once she solidified her plans to visit him, Doe 1 (the Fake Account proprietor) backed down and gave an excuse that he would be out of town during her planned visit. At this time, she sensed something was wrong and discovered, to her horror and embarrassment, that Doe 1 was in fact, not Mr. Gallo
The lawsuit is for false designation of origin under the Lanham (Trademark) Act, intentional infliction of emotional distress, unfair competition and unfair business practices. Gallo is also suing the John Doe for violating his right of publicity as well as a California law that penalizes those found guilty of impersonating somebody online with malicious intent.
The actor stated after he found out about the scammer's profile he used Facebook’s reporting system to try to get it taken down. Facebook responded with a canned message requesting proof of his identity, so he sent in a scan of his driver’s license.
He said that Facebook told him it still couldn’t verify his identity and requested he make a new copy of his ID. Gallo says he then sent over a “professionally color scanned copy” and tried to explain the situation, but Facebook still didn’t take down the profile.
So he sued. That finally got their attention. Facebook confirmed that it had shuttered the account on Thursday.
The things you have to do these days to get a fake profile taken down. Sigh. :-)
The lesson learned for everyone else though is that you have to be very careful about who approaches you online. It can be email, social media, a chat site, smartphone apps - you have to ask yourself if this could be a scam.
Only give our personal information if you have initiated the contact, and after you have verified the communication line is legit.
Effective security awareness training would have stopped this from happening.
Think Before You Click!
Related Pages: Social Engineering
