Scammers are impersonating Hawaii politicians on Facebook

Scammers are impersonating Hawaii politicians on Facebook
Updated: Apr. 20, 2018 at 7:46 PM HST
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Senator Roz Baker of Maui says people told her they were getting weird messages from her on Facebook.

Then she found out scammers had used a photo from her personal Facebook page and started sending messages with a bogus offer appearing to have been endorsed by the senator.

"Apparently the message went was 'yes this is true I used it. I got $70,000 and I was able to pay all my bills,'" said Baker (D-South and West Maui).

One friend wired $500 dollars to a Western Union on the mainland and the friend asked Baker what happened to the money which is now gone.

"It breaks my heart that someone who trusted me got duped in this fashion," she said.

The social media accounts of other elected official are getting targeted.

"We got a report that there's a fake Mayor Caldwell Facebook page," said Deputy Chief John McCarthy of the Honolulu Police Department.

McCarthy says this phony Caldwell page solicited an offer of up to $5 million in loans.

"If you look at the page, it's a little suspicious because there's only a few photos from the past few days," said McCarthy.

HPD says check the URL address which should be short with the person's name. The URL address for the fake Caldwell facebook page is lengthy and has a foreign name. It's a classic Nigerian Scam.

"They are hijacking public officials pages and trying to convince victims that the public official is who they are communicating with," said Stephen Levins of the Office of Consumer Protection, which is investigating Baker's case.

"What I can't stress enough, don't wire money," said Levins.

So far, no reports of any victims from the fake Caldwell page which was not hijacked. Senator Baker wants people to know if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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