PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands (CMC) – The police here have confirmed reports of a Facebook money scam that is being headed by a local woman who has so far fleeced individuals of thousands of dollars.

Investigators from the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force say they are preparing to charge the woman in the racket that is taking route here.

According to the Financial Crimes Unit of the police force, swindlers use banks or money transfer companies to wire funds electronically.

The Sun newspaper reports that some of the fraudsters operate from externally, but lure unsuspecting persons to collaborate with them in their scheme locally.

It is reported that the scammers befriend a local person on Facebook and when approved, would seek out their relatives or other friends on the social media site, especially ones that live in a different country from their new local “Facebook friend”.

They would also collect banking information from the person and then hack into someone else’s bank account and transfer funds into their ‘new local Facebook friend’s’ account, later contacting and telling them that a relative or friend that lives in another country has transferred certain amount of funds to the account.

They then ask the unsuspecting person to withdraw a certain amount from their account and wire it to them, and keep the remainder.

Once the deal goes through, the scammer would close down that Facebook account and move on to the next victim.

The police have warned persons to be on the lookout for individuals contacting them about such transactions.