A warning for Facebook users: A new scam is looking to cheat you out of your hard earned money. A local woman was a recent target.
"The first thing I said was wow, I never won anything in my life," said Chris Henry.
She was shocked to learn she was a winner. It was last month when a friend sent her a private Facebook message.
"He says hi, you won $200,000," Henry said.
It was all part of a Facebook sweepstakes. Her friend Lee had just won, and was contacting Henry to let her know she was also a winner.
"I said okay. I didn't think my friend would lie to me," Henry said.
He sent Henry a phone number for a Facebook official. She contacted him, and he asked for some of her information, including her full name, age and address. Before getting her prize money, she also had to pay a handling fee.
"He's asking for $3,000 now," Henry said.
That's when she started to grow suspicious. So she sent her friend Lee a Facebook message.
"I said Lee, how's your wife doing? I heard she was suppose to have her baby last month," Henry said.
But Lee's wife wasn't really expecting a baby.
"I was testing him to make sure that was my friend," Henry said.
But she says he never answered her. He just kept telling her to pay the fee, in order to collect her prize. That's when Henry knew it had to be a scam. So she reached out to Contact 13.
"I don't want anybody getting scammed like I almost did," Henry said.
So here's the contact 13 bottom line. Never pay an up front fee for any sweepstakes or lottery. In this case, Henry was told to transfer the cash into a bank account. But once you do that, your money is gone for good.
Henry eventually learned, someone hacked into her friend's Facebook. That's why he was asking for all that money, and never answering her questions. If you've been the target of a scam, let us know about it. Email us at 13investigates@ktnv.com.
