Facebook IPO Fraud: Woman Caught Selling Fake Shares

Only a day old, it didn't take long for impostors to attempt to scam shares of the social network's stock. According to The Northwestern, a woman from Oshkosh, Wis., was caught selling fake Facebook shares the same day the company officially filed its IPO.

Marianne Oleson, now facing 33 felony charges in Winnebago County Circuit Court, made arrangements with four local men. The 46-year-old woman collected $28,000 in cash from an Oshkosh man who did concrete work at her home. A 66 year-old man also from Oshkosh purchased $10,000 in fake stock certificates that Oleson said would be sent via mail. Two other men were also caught up in the con-artist's fraud, one who paid $6,600 worth and the other $3,300 worth.

Oleson had claimed that her daughter was a friend of the Facebook founder's girlfriend, reported The Northwestern.

She is also currently charged with drug-related felonies and one misdemeanor drug charge, and the Associated Press reported that police uncovered a marijuana-growing operation at her home in January. Oleson obtained the documents from a company in Florida by pretending to be interested in purchasing $1 million worth of shares.

It seems another social network also wanted in on the action. Yesterday, after Facebook officially filed its IPO, a fake Twitter account was created for the website's S-1, according to The Los Angeles Times. Though the tweets were silly, they still managed to grab attention from TechCrunch and New York Times reporters.