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Scam artists are always coming up with new and creative ways to bilk people out of their money.

And there may be a new Facebook scam making the rounds.

A Vernon woman was contacted by a close 'friend' of Facebook looking for some financial help.

But it turned out to be a crypto currency, bitcoin scam and her friend's Facebook profile had been hacked.

She stopped by a local business and asked how to purchase $5,000 worth of bitcoins.

The business operator, who asked to remain anonymous, became suspicious and asked the lady a few questions about the transaction and things did not add up.

The woman was told if she provided $5,000 to the United Nations Democracy Grant Funding program she would get a $50,000 return on her investment.

“The reason she believed it was because it was a Facebook message from her friend that she knows in real life telling her she sent $8,500 and got back $85,000,” said the store operator who helped the woman. “I questioned the validity of this and asked if she had heard from her friend physically that she had received the money.”

The store operator did some research of his own and showed the woman the United Nations does not deal in crypto currency and does solicit people for funds.

It is not uncommon for people to have their Facebook accounts hacked, but the tech-savvy store operator had not heard of this particular scam before.

“It ended up she did not lose any money. She is a senior citizen that was easily fooled because it was supposedly her friend,” said the store operator.

Vernon RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy said scammers are constantly coming up with new ways to separate people from their money.

Noseworthy said she has not heard of this scam specifically, but was not surprised a new scam was making the rounds.

The most common scam going around is the CRA scam where a recorded message tells people they will be arrested if they do not send money.

There are things people can do to protect themselves.

“Be suspect of anything that is unsolicited. Make sure you check it out and do your due diligence,” said Noseworthy, adding in this specific scam it is a good idea to contact the friend in person.

People are also reminded to never give out personal information, even at the insistence of the caller.