Social Network Site ID Theft Scams

Almost every day, there seems to be a story about phishing and other identity scams in the news. More and more, those scams seem to focus on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Tagged. In most of the stories, a phishing email is used to capture personal information, but viruses are now being circulated that are designed to do the same thing.

You probably don't realize how much information you are unknowingly providing to ID thieves through your social networking profiles. While social networking sites are cool, you should be very cautious if you take part in them.

These are five areas you should be very cautious about:

1. Your Name
Your name isn't the most crucial point of data in ID theft, but it does give ID thieves a place to start. If an ID thief is willing to spend a few dollars for a background report, many times a web search for a name turns up all the info the thief needs.

The Solution: Use only your first name or use a nickname. Never provide your full name unless you're certain it can be hidden. ID thieves could hack into your account and steal the info, even if it's not public.

2. Where You Live
Social networking sites often ask for your location when you create an account. This info is usually displayed for other users to see. ID thieves can get this info when using the Web and it will take them only about 2 minutes to find your physical address.

The solution: Use a fictitious location. Choose some other city and state. Never use a city and state you've actually lived in.

3. Date Of Birth
This is another item that is often requested when you sign up for a social networking site. It's also one more piece of info an ID thief can use against you. It's nice to get all those birthday greetings from your online friends, but is it really worth the risk?

The solution: Give a bogus date of birth. it's not nearly as much fun, but you can rely on your real world friends to send you birthday shout-outs. And you can rest easy knowing that you're protecting your identity online.

4. City Of Birth
This is often used as a security validation question and sometimes it's included in your profile info. This info is valued by ID thieves because it allows them to set up new accounts or access and alter existing ones.

The solution: Make up a fictitious city. One that is far away from where you were actually born. Make it in a state you have never lived in. Nobody but you knows you made it up and it keeps your true info safe.

5. Maiden Name
Another security question is often "What is your mother's maiden name?" ID thieves can get this info in a variety of ways. They can hack into your social network profile, make a genealogical search or from a birth certificate obtained by request from her state of birth.

The solution: Don't make it easy for an ID thief. Make up a maiden name to use on profiles that's completely unrelated to your family history. Be very careful about any genealogical info that you post in forums, even if they're private.

How much TIME and MONEY are you willing to lose if you become the next victim of identity theft? According to the FTC, 10% of all identity theft victims will spend $1,200 and over 55 hours to clear their name. That is a lot of YOUR TIME AND MONEY!!

Twitter, MySpace, Tagged, Facebook and other social networks have a few things in common. One being that there's a lot of excessive trust by their users. Once logged on, people have dropped their sense of cynicism. There is no apparent reason to distrust. Generally, your "friends" are people who you "know, like and trust." In the world of social networks, your guard is as down as it will ever be. So says Robert Siciliano, Identity Theft Expert.

PC World reports that 33% of social networkers have at least three pieces of info posted on their pages that could lead to ID theft. These include names, addresses, birth dates, mother's maiden names, pet's names, and phone numbers. They are among the various types of data that could help an ID thief steal your identity. Social Networkers are making it much too easy for thieves.

Almost 80% of those polled are concerned about privacy issues on social networks, but almost 60% are not aware what their privacy settings are and who can see their data. 33% of social networkers admitted that they use the same password for all their social networking accounts.

Siciliano notes, "An ID thief might try to "friend" a potential victim. The thief poses as someone the target may know, or someone who is known within the target's social circle. Once the thief has been accepted as a friend, they are in the target's inner circle and gain a great deal of insight into the target's daily life."

Scammers and ID thieves are watching. They know that once they are logged on, your guard goes way down

Identity theft NEVER stops. Does the following resemble your social networking page?

Hi, my name is Angel Rainbow. My birthday is 7/29/2009 and I was born in Heavenly Springs, Michigan. My dog's name is Scruffy and I hope everybody will become my new friend.

Nothing to be concerned about here, right? WRONG! A determined ID thief could get your personal info from stuff this innocent and it's NOT that difficult.

Legislation was recently passed by Congress that approved the use of the last four digits of your social security number on public documents. That may seem harmless, but knowing where and when someone was born are terrific clues to figuring out the first five digits of their social security number. Researchers have been able to accurately guess the first five digits about 40% of the time. And now Congress has handed the last piece of the puzzle to ID thieves on a silver platter.

The other dangerous bit of info is your dog's name. Everybody who uses their dog's name as a password for email, online banking, etc., raise your hand. OK, you can put it down now. A lot us use it for ALL our passwords because we just don't want to think of something harder.

Social Networking sites (Facebook,Twitter, Tagged, MySpace, etc.) are not happy playgrounds where everybody loves each other. They are full of people who will steal anything they can and especially if it doesn't involve much risk. ID theft is the "perfect crime" for them because the odds of being caught are small. The odds of going to jail are even smaller. ID thieves can have a big payday without any repercussions.

Think twice before giving out so much info on social networking sites and then think it through again. Keep your identity safe!

Ok! Just how do you prevent your identity from being stolen on social networking sites? According to Identity Theft Expert, Robert Siciliano......"you can't."

Siciliano explains that "there are several things you can and should do in order to manage your social networking identity, which may prevent social media identity theft. What exactly is social networking identity theft? It's a form of cybersqatting using social networking sites."

"If you've ever attempted to join a social networking site and found that your first and last name were already taken, that may have been cybersqatting."

"There may be someone who shares your exact name and happened to register first, or else there is someone who took your name so that you can't have it or who wants to sell it back to you or who wants to pose as you and disrupt your life. These are all possibilities."

Posing as you in order to disrupt your life is the most damaging possibility. They may pose as you in order to harass and stalk you or people you know. Of course they could steal your identity for financial gain.

Social networking sites offer the option to provide your real name as well as a user name. Using your real name as your user name is key. You want to establish control over your name.

Siciliano adds, "The goal is to obtain your real first and last name without periods, underscores, hyphens, numbers or extra letters. Your ideal name, for example would be twitter.com/LeonBrown or LeonBrown.com. This strategy won't prevent someone else from registering with your name and adding a dot or a dash, but it trims down the options for an ID thief."

Your name is your brand. It is front and center on every document you sign and every website that shows up when your name is searched. When you get rid of all the bells and whistles, all you really have is your good name.

It is imperative that you claim your name on social networks and work toward managing your online reputation and identity. Those of us who don't are begging to have our identity stolen. Check out my blog for a future article on specific steps to take to accomplish this.