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Your Money > Credit Reports Articles > Facebook fraud?
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By Sarah Modlock There was an email in my inbox today from someone I had never heard of. Actually, this is nothing new. In common with most people I get about a dozen spam emails a day. Most offer a chance to re-enter my bank details online (I pass these messages to relevant The thing is, I have never heard of Jez Booth, email author. Jez if you're reading this and you are some sort of long lost cousin then I'm sorry. Perhaps Jez is just trying to drum up as many online contacts as possible in a popularity bid. Rather like the Facebook invitation I had from a ex-boyfriend I have not been in touch with for years (you know who you are). Some people are apparently so keen to have an online identity that they are paying others to do all their blogging and social networking for them. BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones says he was tipped off about an entrepreneur who is paying someone £1,000 a month to manage his internet identity. The price of networking But all is not well in the land on virtual networking. Users of Facebook and similar sites such as MySpace, Bebo,Twitter and Friends Reunited are being warned of a threat far worse than being 'poked' by dull people or contacted by an ex. Thieves are finding all the information they need to begin steal identities on these websites. Facebook in particular has seen an explosion of popularity in the UK, with 10,000 people a day registering according to some reports. What makes them vulnerable is the amount and nature of personal information they give away. From full name, date of birth to all the schools they went to, family, work history plus contact information such as email, phone numbers and even home address, people are placing more online than ever before. Apparently harmless details such as mother's maiden name, first school or street and pets names are often used as answers to bank security questions. Often, people who are very careful about shredding sensitive paperwork at home, hear no such alarm bells when online. Equifax, the leading online credit information provider, is warning that there are some real risks to personal information when putting personal details online. "Fraudsters are taking advantage of the new craze for social networking," warns Neil Munroe, External Affairs Director for Equifax. "The problem is that people don't realise the significance of the kind of information they are putting out on the web and who may be accessing it. More and more consumers are signing up to these sites every day and chances are they'll put on their date of birth, location, email, job and marital status. Similarly, nearly all of us can search for a name of an old friend and find all their personal details online without them even knowing. Unfortunately, the fact is that not everybody is searching for a friend. Fraudsters can use this information to steal an individual's identity and open accounts in their name." Friend or foe? The point about not everyone being friendly was confirmed again last month when the bosses of MySpace found more than 29,000 convicted sex offenders using their US site and promptly banned them. A similar exercise in May this year found 7,000, indicating that the numbers of undesirables are rising at an alarming rate. Children and young people are not just targets for evil abusers though. As they are much more likely to give out personal information, they are being watched by fraudsters so that their fresh credit records can be plundered when they turn 18. Another concern springs from the expanding online job recruitment market where thousands of CVs are stored. Determined thieves can simply set up a fake company and pay a subscription to pose as employers and access the information available. Already in the UK, identity fraud affects around 80,000 people and is estimated to cost the economy £1.7billion a year. And the evidence shows that the criminals are growing more sophisticated all the time. It is now worthwhile for teams to spend time harvesting information from the internet and selling it on. Banks are already beginning to change the information they collect to use for security purposes. In future, we may all have calculator-sized digital PIN machines given to us by our bank. These are designed for use when carrying out any financial transactions online and they generate a random five digit security code when you need it which is typed in along with other information online to confirm your identity for that transaction. Barclays customers who bank online are already using them. Munroe concludes, "We don't want to stop people using these sites, but we do advise them to limit the amount of information they make available to stop people stealing their identity. Individuals should think twice before putting their full date of birth online. Announcing they're going on holiday could leave them open to burglary. Similarly, don't reveal the names of pets and children, as they're often used as passwords. And don't make it easy for fraudsters by listing all your networking addresses in one place. Play it safe and use privacy filters where available." Equifax has the following tips for using social network sites:
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