The two things aren’t exactly the same. While no one should be scammed, it usually requires a certain degree of naïveté to be scammed. At least you now realize you were scammed. Call your local police. That may not get you anything back, but it could possibly help prevent others from being scammed. Remember - No one is handing out free money that you have to pay a fee on; and legitimate business and local, state, or federal do not take gift cards for payment; never give sensitive information such as social security number, bank or credit card info to someone who contacts you - Anytime you see or hear this IT IS A SCAM… Unfortunately your friend who you are trying to contact cannot do anything to help you recover from being scammed. The best they can do is be sympathetic - And for God’s sake don’t expect them to give or “loan” you money to make good your losses… By the way sometimes scammers create a bogus account on Facebook with the same picture and name as someone you know and then send you a Friend request. Which if you accept they then message you and try to hook you on some bogus scam. A couple of my cousins got their accounts “twinned” this way. They look for accounts that aren’t very active to twin. I though the first one was actually my cousin but that he had been scammed but didn’t know it yet. It was soon obvious however that the bastard was trying to scam me. Do not accept friend requests from people that are already in your friend list…

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