Linda Hall: Hacked off again by scammers

Lazy sods who dump their stuff don't give a toss about anyone else.

For the second time, my Facebook account has been hacked.

On Friday evening I started getting messages from my Facebook friends telling me my account had been hacked and that they had been sent a friend request from me.

Lucky for me my friends are not silly. One reported and blocked them while others deleted them.

One of my friends, who I have known since I was about 13, said the "fake me" had told her she had won a large sum of money and all she had to do was give them my maiden name.

My daughter in Australia thought she might have a little fun with them so she replied to the friend request with: I thought I was already your friend.

Fake me: Yeah, don't know what happened. Been busy at work, what about you?

Daughter: Been busy, too. Miss you.

Fake me: Have you heard my great news?

Daughter: Oh my goodness no. What is it?

Fake Me: Have you heard about Facebook lottery?

Daughter: No, what is it?

Fake me: I won $150.

Daughter: $150, I thought you were going to say $150,000. Oh, well, I guess it's better than nothing.

Fake me: Oh no, I meant $150,000 and I saw your name on the list.

Daughter: Oh wow, how do I get it?

Then she was suddenly dropped. These scammers know exactly what they are doing.

They would expect some questions and doubts from my daughter. I suspect that's why they dropped her.

It made me think, though. Just what do hackers get from Facebook pages? It's mostly pictures of friends and family. People don't put their bank accounts details on Facebook ... or do they?

I found this on Google from Janet Fouts, "an author of several books and speaker on topics such as digital marketing".

She says: "Keep information that hackers could use to get credit info safe. Date of birth, mother's maiden name, first pet, city you were born in, are all common phrases used by credit card companies. Don't put it all out on social.

"People don't take social media seriously when it comes to security but they give up so much personal information to the networks that when they are hacked it can get nasty very quickly."

That is so true. We might think we are sharing our private life with only family and friends on social media but you just never know whose eyes are looking. Be careful.

Now you may have noticed the photo with this column. This is what I came across in a drain on Riverslea Rd in Hastings while out walking on Saturday morning. Some lazy sods have just dumped their unwanted stuff. There are a couple of office chairs, a fan, clothes and what looks like general household rubbish.

This is a busy road so I'm guessing it was done under the cover of darkness.

Then on Sunday I went for a bike ride and, unbelievably, dumped on the side of Otene Rd in Hastings were two fridges and a sofa.

Fly tipping is illegal, as if the people who are doing it don't know that ... of course they do. If you see someone doing it, ring the council.

These two examples may not have been near water but people who dump their rubbish any old where they like don't give a toss where they do it.

It's not just animals that can foul our water.

- Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.