If you are anything like me Facebook is something that your kids talk about. I didn’t know much about it however in my line of work when something pops up as a potential tool for fraudsters I have to take a look.

Facebook, My Space and Friends Reunited are a few of the social networking sites that allow users to connect with their friends and associates via the internet. The user builds a profile of them selves and can post pictures, videos and notes on the site for friends to view. They can join networks of other users according to their interests or community involvement, allowing the them to keep up with what is going on by reading the sites of other users. Sounds useful and innocent – Right? Social networking sites are the perfect place for fraudsters to collect information which can be used for identity theft. Privacy tools exist on these sites, which can be activated. However one piece of research that I read indicates that 31% of users do not activate the security and privacy settings on their profiles. They allow potential “new friends” to view information such as their full name, date of birth and perhaps their email address - exactly the information that a fraudster needs to steal your identity. There are other pieces of useful information for a criminal to use. An individuals profile may include employment and education information, information about interests and perhaps family information. All this can be used to for “social engineering”. Fraudsters use this knowledge to get closer to their intended victim and perhaps encourage them to divulge banking information or a social security number. Fraudsters can also direct the unwary to phony sites which may look authentic but are intended to trick you into providing more personal information. Armed with your information and a few artfully created forged documents fraudsters can proceed to take over your financial life. Sounds hard to believe? Believe it - it is happening. Victims are losing their homes and their financial security to these fraudsters. My advice is to protect your personal information. If you use social networking sites make sure that you employ the privacy features available and don’t reveal information on the site that can be used to victimize you. Be Smart!

If you have been a victim of a fraud relating to a social networking site go to Take Action on the Web Site and let us know. We would love to hear your story and you can see more on this and other types of fraud on Fraud Squad TV.

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