Beware of Criminals in Social Networking Sites

            In real life, one is cautious and vigilant in talking to strangers, especially in divulging personal information. In some instances when we are forced to talk to them, for instance, while waiting in line with a long queue ahead, we clam up immediately as soon as we perceive that the person we are talking to is becoming personal. At least I know I do.

Even if I know that Filipinos are intrinsically curious, I just give them a smile as an answer. If asked the same question for the second time by the same person, I just try to answer in a vague way and try to focus my attention somewhere else and away from that person.  I believe others do this too.

            In the social networking site that I use, I do not accept friendship requests from people I do not know. I do not even requests people I know but do not like to be my friends even just on-site. I do not post every activity that I do at present or I will do in the future. Every posting, if ever I am in the mood to do which is rare,  already happened in the past.  Nor do I post my personal numbers and information on site.

            Now, why would other people divulge their personal life on a stranger? Is it because they feel safe and they feel that this stranger-friend cannot harm them as this stranger-friend is only on-line?  

            I clearly do not understand why certain people, especially female, would post their cell phone numbers in a social networking site where everybody can see it. These are usually coupled with photos of themselves in sexy outfits and bathing suits.  Is it in line with their personal motive of attracting “friends” from the opposite sex? Or is it just being plain naïve?

            If these came from tweens or teenagers, I will understand that they are still not that familiar or attuned with the realities of life. But pictures in the networking sites are already adults and look worldly to me. Surely, they are opening themselves up for criminals to prey on them.

            I know of a lady DJ with a late night program  in a radio station that talks to radio callers of which are ninety-nine percent men about their love problems. Her conversations with them are usually laden with sexual innuendoes. She even promotes her pictures in Facebook where she lolls around wearing a two-piece bathing suit. Add to this that she is pretty (in her Facebook profile), is tantamount to exposing herself to dangerous people and situations.

            Why do people, mostly female again, fall “in love” with a “friend” on a social networking site not even knowing if the person they are conversing with and falling in love with  is the same person. For all they know, they might be talking to a different person or even a group of persons posing as that friend. To top it all off, they even agree to meet each other in the physical realm with the girl meeting the boy alone. 

            Not that every meeting will result to unhappy or even tragic ending but if I were she, I will not have the courage to do it. Nor will I allow my loved ones to do it, too.  

            Just recently, a well-known director was stabbed seventeen times by another man who he met in Facebook, and whom he allowed to sleep in his house. Fortunately, the stabbings were not fatal as he was able to fight the “friend” and he survived the unfortunate incident.

            Last year, a friend of my sister was tagged and received a nude photo of a male colleague. The lady friend was so livid with anger that she sent the photo to all her friends including the male colleague. However, the male colleague was insisting that he had no knowledge of how his nude photo was tagged to the lady friend. Besides, he was also shocked and almost petrified with embarrassment and anger that the lady friend did not confront him first before sending the nude photo to others. The lady friend did not believe him. But it is also possible that somebody hacked his computer and sent the photo to the lady friend.  As a result, they fought using the network site with friends of both sides both ganging up the other camp.

             Who have not heard of Twitter wars between celebrities and former lovers?

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Crimes that are being committed by people trawling the social networking sites

In the contemporary society, though cyber world offers a lot of services to   people; however, it also brings various troubles to mankind. This current cyber situation   leaves the world vulnerable to the cyber criminals.    Relatively,    every time a person opens or updates her profile on   the different social networking sites; he just gives away personal information to other people.  People are very concerned about keeping their personal identity confidential and remain private as much as possible.  But,  don’t they realize that they are just  let the cyber criminals  take advantage of their   personal identity and personal details  when they  are sharing pictures, updating their profiles, as well as entering their bank account details online? There are several reports that face book users only publish their personal details to 100 million Facebook users in the world.  These are the main reasons that a lot of cyber criminals have lot of access in trawling   to the different social networking sites to get   information for cyber scams by getting users’ bank accounts, PIN numbers and passwords. This devious idea is accompanied by a simple email from fake bogus “banks” asking for a security details in order to upgrade   your account.  In this connection, there is a previous report regarding the HSBC incident, there was a customer who called HSBC to claim his or her reward for fifty Euros for answering five survey questions about customer satisfaction with HSBC   financial products and services.  But HSBC confirmed that they   did not    have any promotional survey for their clients. It was purely scam from unauthorized individuals.  There are many online financial issues that are related to identity deception and the worst thing is; there are many victims who feel even guilty   until such time that they are proven innocent from the crime or scam. 

(http://www.mirror.co.uk/advice/money/2010/08/04/how-to-protect-yourself-from-identity-fraud-115875-22461917/)
Based on the research made, there is another cyber-crime related incident; and it is the story of a 56-year old shopper from Gloucestershire.  While she was about to pay all her goods; her debit card was rejected, and all of a sudden she was brought to the nearest police station and was detained there for eleven hours for the crime that she did not even do.  Through the help of police investigation, it was found out that the woman’s personal information was stolen from the curriculum vitae she posted online.  Her personal information was used by the fraudsters to access her bank records and was able to impersonate her identity that caused her of losing   fourteen thousand euro from her savings account.  Because of this nightmare, the woman decided to put her traumatic experience to   good use and create a website called www. Cyberfraud.org.uk. According to this woman, she only wants to give warning to other people that might be victimized by these cyber criminals.  These types of fraud is professionally operated and committed by   online gangs who use the stolen cash to fund even larger crimes like people trafficking and drug smuggling.  Aside from this, there are many fraudsters who are ready to hijack companies.  So, beware, keep sensitive information secure.   Aside from these different cyber –related crimes; there are still cyber-related incidents that many social networking site users are experiencing today.  Based on the police report, hi-tech criminals are doing 100 attacks just a second on the cyber world.  And, one of these cyber attacks is doing harm to your own personal computer.  There is large number of malicious software or malware that cause 51 percent computer viruses such as Trojan horses, worms and macro viruses among many others. 

(http://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2009/08/24/105075_the-financial-negatives-of-social-networking.html

The various   social networking crimes across countries give further challenges to law enforcement in every country.  In view thereof, there are no standard laws for this case.  As a result, there are many schools worldwide that conduct cyber awareness trainings and seminars for students and parents regarding cyber crime cell.  Many non-organization agencies    are reaching out to huge number of student –online-users through issuing cyber pamphlets and showing video tapes in schools.  This is to make the young population aware of the increasing number of college students   who are already victimized by internet hacking.  Many social networking sites only waste your time in trawling; as well as these sites could only misuse your important information to other bogus online transactions.  In the same manner, social networking has been damaging the natural communicative skills and ability of the people.  With all these in mind, I personally believe that knowledge on how to use these various social networking sites   has good impacts on the lives of the people today, but it should only limit to a certain point.  Being smart, responsible, and disciplined online user can reduce the cyber crime rates all through out the globe.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8630160.stm)

References:

(http://www.mirror.co.uk/advice/money/2010/08/04/how-to-protect-yourself-from-identity-fraud-115875-22461917/)
(http://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2009/08/24/105075_the-financial-negatives-of-social-networking.html

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8630160.stm)

Facecrooks Emerges From Facebook

 It is quite alarming today how technology could become a negative impact to some people.  Social networking for instance is a product of technology  so unheard of so many decades ago but with its emergence, seems like everyone who are computer literate and has access to the internet are hooked into it.  It is such a powerful tool against loneliness as it is to isolation especially to parents who worked in other countries  It successfully builds networks, connects friends aside from its heartwarming role that gives the family members separated by distance the chance to catch up.  Since its membership is free, it attracts more and more people and currently serves over 400 million users worldwide about 19 million of which are Filipinos.

But while social networking site’s aim is perhaps generally geared towards the positive aspect, there are just other creatures out there who took it as another venue for giving in to their evil energies. 

On the second thought, while there are really benefits of web technologies, one oftentimes wonder whether they really were invented for the sole purpose of social engineering.  Come to think of it, it really is incredible how quickly users are willing to share and accept information to and from people whom they do not and unsuspectingly took at face value that the individuals contacting them or making friends with them must be a trusted party.  Becoming part of somebody’s circle of trust need not have to undergo a lot of convincing on the part of the duping party.  A simple convivial statement is all that is needed today to elicit a positive response from a would be victim.

The most popular network site nowadays is probably the Facebook.  Let’s face it; we now live in the Facebook era where privacy is set by one’s own hand.  Sadly though, the power to connect also bears the inherent power to destroy.  Thus, we should not assume that nobody is interested in our online status, profiles and even our chats. Although some of these details may seem harmless, they actually provide rich pickings for criminals. For instance, our date of birth and where we live are enough for a certain fraud to set up a credit card in our name.

Hence, whilst most people wouldn't give this information to a stranger in real life, they will happily post it online where strangers can see it.  There are enormous opportunities for criminals that a nonchalant user actually provides in his/her Facebook account or in other social networking sites for that matter.

For we cannot discount the fact that criminals are also updating their ploy such that social networking is an easy target, it being a user friendly.

And so come varied news about the occurrence of crimes associated with social networking as Facebook.  People disguising as looking for friendships whose motives are actually searching for possible targets to whom they can steal or elicit their carnal desires. Incidence of this kind is long prevailing in foreign countries ranging from cases of murder, rape, pedophilia, bullying, assault, spamming and burglary.  It looks like Philippines might just follow suit because it looks like it has started to make a headline of its own pertaining to similar incidents. 

The risks highlighted with the use of social networking nowadays cannot altogether be solved by putting a stop to its use; rather, it calls for users to take a few basic steps and simple precautions to keep themselves, their families and/or businesses safe online.  One form of precaution is to use privacy settings on social networking.  Police authorities and IT security experts issued warnings to users to be more vigilant about the personal information they post on the web. But seems the evidence ­suggests that while the public isn’t growing any more internet savvy, the criminals are.

In the past, earlier forms of Internet technology were exploited.  If Facebook users continue to be nonchalant, it might experience the same fate, it being a logical choice for cyber criminals who wish to ply their trade with its huge number of users around the globe.

In the future, social networking crime will surely grow, particularly as social media aggregators become one-stop shops for criminals wishing to fully research and targets potential victims.  Looks like the weakest link will continue to be the human factor.