Just look at some of these numbers…Facebook estimates that users spend more than 2.6 billion minutes on the site every day worldwide. In 2008, the company had over 60 million users and the number of users was doubling every six months. According to comscore, Facebook is the sixth most trafficked site in US.
The attraction? People of similar interests meet and get to know each other and introduce us to new resources and most importantly, to new friends – that good old “six degrees of separation” principal! And the result? Social networking sites are the perfect breeding groups for spammers and internet criminals.
The sites are prolific with an overwhelming number of users and according to EarthLink Security Center, they have good reputations, and they “support open software applications meaning a decent programmer can write code that works inside the network”. So what does this mean to YOU?
BEWARE! Here are Social Network Scams and what you can do to protect yourself, your identity and your pocket book!!!!
- Downloading malware – users unknowingly post on their profile page or send through a “tweet” a link that appears to be an application for videos, photos, or other features when in actuality, the links release Trojans, keylogging and viruses that are virally and virtually spread and are used in identity theft and security breaches.
- Sending/receiving spam – using your account to send bogus messages to scam through spam (i.e., “help, I’m stranded in London” or “the perfect deal too good to pass up – all we need is upfront investment”).
- False Identity – it’s so easy to set up a fake identity of someone real or non-existent, grow your friend and follower list, and implement spam scams, and of course phishing scams (getting your personal information to financially benefit by asking for your passwords or credit card information) or even more sinister and illegal activity.
To protect yourself, pay attention to and be selective of “friends” and their communications and take the following precautions:
- Do not download applications or open links until you confirm with the sender they are legitimate (still a risk though).
- Make sure you have the most current security software - anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-spam and firewall software!
- Change passwords regularly, make them complex and don’t use the same one for all your “site” registrations.
- NEVER disclose personal identifying information in your communications and do not post your email, phone number or address on your profile.
- Pay attention to the page’s domain name – spoofed Facebook or Twitter pages asking for your password is a scam warning flag.
And, if you’re a victim of a social networking scam – post a message to your friends to warn them your account has been compromised if your password has been “stolen”. All the networking sites have directions for reporting suspected or actual fraud that occurs through their sites and report any identity theft to www.ic3.gov.
Look for more information about tips to avoid fraud by visiting www.bbb.org Talk soon – Angie
