Listen to this articleArno Hecht usually enjoys his wide-ranging influence on Facebook. With a friends’ network of more than 4,100, the popular musician has used the social media platform to promote shows, get gigs and keep his fans up to date on his tuneful escapades.
But a few weeks ago, Hecht’s Facebook page was hijacked by a scammer, who sought to steal thousands of dollars from unsuspecting members of his social network. As of Tuesday, he was still locked out of his account, unable to post and warn his friends of the fraud.
“I can’t begin to tell you how upsetting that is for me,” Hecht told LIBN. “As far as I’m concerned, Facebook is enabling identity theft. And they are, in fact, complicit in allowing people to get scammed and have money taken from them. It’s worse than horrible.”
The scammer posted nearly three-dozen mostly high-ticket items for sale, including three cars, two trucks, a camper, trailer, tractor, ATVs, riding mowers, a hot tub and more, making it seem that Hecht was offering the items.
“We are conducting a sale of personal items due to my uncle’s relocation to a care facility, which necessitates significant downsizing,” one of the posts read. “To manage this transition smoothly, items will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.” The purchases required a “fully refundable” deposit to reserve them.
To the people who follow Hecht and know him to be honest and kind, the posts seemed legit, and a few of his Facebook friends sent “deposits” and got ripped off.
The scammer couldn’t have picked a better target than Hecht to impersonate. The New York City-based saxophone player has a huge following after a career that spans more than a half-century.
A well-known touring and studio musician, Hecht has played on more than 350 albums, including James Brown’s “Living in America.” A co-founder of The Uptown Horns, Hecht has toured with the Rolling Stones and has backed the likes of Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Joan Jett and many others, playing sax for Dion for the last 16 years.
Especially popular here on Long Island, Hecht has performed at The Stephen Talkhouse, My Father’s Place, Westbury Music Fair and more, playing with Long Island acts such as Wonderous Stories, Nancy Atlas, Gene Casey, Black & Sparrow and many others.
Hecht has tried to reach out to Facebook in an attempt to get his page back to no avail.
“There’s no way for me or anybody in my position to contact Facebook,” he said. “They have a page facebook.com/hacked. They sent a verification code to my phone and as soon as I enter the code it says the code is not valid.”
Facebook has yet to respond to a request for comment on this story.
Unfortunately, Hecht’s plight is not unusual, according to a federal agent with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), who has investigated similar cases.
“It’s extremely common. You can see it not just on the general marketplace page, but in specific community groups,” said the agent, who is assigned to the New York division and asked to remain anonymous. “Long Islander’s Facebook accounts are being hijacked and as a result, Long Island consumers are being targeted and falling victim to it. It’s safe to say (the Facebook scams) could be in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
After an initial investigation into the fraud launched from Hecht’s hijacked page, the federal agent said the scammer is from overseas, which is the case in a lot of the frauds his agency investigates and makes prosecutions more difficult.
However, the USPIS does offer some advice on how people can avoid falling victim to Facebook scams. The agent said don’t have the same passwords for all of your accounts, establish two-factor authentication where possible and delete any social media accounts that you or a relative no longer uses.
In addition, try to slow down any Facebook transactions.
“They never actually sell the items because there are no items. But asking for a deposit creates a false sense of urgency,” the agent said. “(The scammer will say) I have five other people that are looking at this item so if you really want it, I need a deposit ASAP.”
Inconsistencies in the post are also red flags, the agent said, like if there are palm trees in the background of item photos when the poster lives in the Northeast. Also, he says, try to speak to the actual owner of the Facebook account on the phone, if possible, as scammers will avoid voice contact and usually only communicate via text or Facebook Messenger.
The USPIS wants to hear from people who have been scammed by social media schemes or other types of frauds.
“If anyone feels they have been victimized it’s important to report these activities because that at least lets us know about growing trends and see if there’s a pattern so we can launch an investigation on our end,” said Daniela Lella, public information officer for the USPIS.
To report frauds, on Facebook or otherwise, visit uspis.gov or call 877-876-2455.
Meanwhile, Hecht is hoping to regain control of his Facebook account.
“A lot of people have reported that I was hacked. But Facebook either does nothing or tells them ‘We’re not removing this because it doesn’t violate our community standards,’” he said. “What a nightmare this has been.”
