Turkish mayor warns locals against hackers through loudspeakers

BALIKESİR

Hackers broke into Yılmaz's Faceook profile and sent messages to his friends

The mayor of a town in Turkey's northwest has warned locals via the municipality's loudspeakers after hackers used his Facebook profile to con his friends.
 
Mayor Mehmet Ruhi Yılmaz of Dursunbey district in Turkey's northwestern province of Balıkesir unwillingly became an accessory to fraud, daily Milliyet reported on its website today.
 
Hackers broke into Yılmaz's Faceook profile and sent messages to his friends, asking for their cell phone numbers. The hackers, pretending to be the mayor, sent text messages to the numbers they obtained that said "I am going to send you a text message, please reply 'yes' to it." 

The suspects then sent a follow-up text that read "Reply 'yes' to this message to open your Turkcell phone line to mobile payment and purchase FB mobile payments via Zong for 40 Turkish Liras." 
 
People who fell for the trick were billed an extra 40 liras on their phone subscriptions.
 
Yılmaz filed a complaint with the prosecutor when he found out about the incident. The mayor, however, also decided to warn locals in the event that they, too, were targeted by the con artists by taking to the municipality’s loudspeakers.
 
"The social networking account of our Mayor Ruhi Yılmaz have been taken over by cyber pirates. Citizens are to ignore any messages coming from the said account and refrain sending replies to them,” the announcement said.
 
Yılmaz said he was very sorry to hear about the incident. He said his Hotmail and MSN messenger accounts were also hacked along with his Facebook profile. "I have learned there was nothing much to do as the company’s headquarters were in the United States. I do not want malicious people to hurt my friends."