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Facebook Scammers Getting Sneakier

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Protect yourself from Phacebook Phishers

If you think there is any worth to your Facebook account, other than its intrinsic value to you (or your friends), then just ask the scammers and phishers, who are trying harder and harder to access your information in order to use it (and you) to promote their warez, ponzi scams, spam, and other nefarious online activities.

Scammers are luring people into visiting Twitter links and blogposts that redirect to phoney Facebook logins, hoping to capture your sign-in information, and use your hacked account as spam fodder, or sell it to black hat marketeers who have numerous methods of using Facebook for their own profitable gains, and at your expense.

It’s getting more difficult to know who you can trust, especially when your best friend could be a victim of these Facebook phishers.

The easiest way to protect yourself is to always ascertain that the link you visit is legitimate, and that the link in the address bar matches the so-called site you are visiting. So if it looks like the Facebook login page, but it’s showing up as a nonsensical Chinese domain, then back away and avoid clicking thru, and do not attempt to enter your personal log-in information.

There are always going to be scammers, shillers, and fraud artists on the Internet. But you don’t need to become a victim just because you’re friend told you to click on a funny video. Be alert–your Facebook account might not be that interesting or exciting, but in the wrong hands, it could make you look like a spam artist. Protect yourself and only enter Facebook from your bookmarks or from typing in the website in the address bar.

Written on 06 January 2009 by admin under Facebook Scams with No Comments
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Facebook Status Updates Fuel Your Online Addiction

Mundane Microblogging Feeds The Smoldering Fires Of Facebook Addiction

While the headline might sound a little extreme, there has to be more than a little bit of truth about Facebook and Internet addiction. It’s difficult to classify your computer online time as an addiction, but if you think about how a person reacts when they have something taken away from them (cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, Internet connection), then it isn’t hard to consider the Internet (and Facebook) as an addiction source.

People who are close to me have a hard time putting down their laptops or turning off their computers because they have constantly reading and replying to the endless stream of mundane microblogging comments in their Facebook status updates. They will spend hours responding to ordinary remarks such as “Joan is still waiting for her hair to dry”, “Bob is organizing his carpet nails”, or “Billy is thinking about updating his Facebook status.”

I can understand that people can’t all live exciting lives 24-hours per day, and that we can’t all be planning Vegas trips, or skydiving, or buying new Ferraris on a weekly basis, and so the Facebook updates can’t always be filled with explosively exciting comments. But seriously, when people are absolutely fascinated by what you had for breakfast, and need to know what their 300 friends are doing every minute of every day, then it’s time to re-examine your relationship with your computer, your Facebook account, and your broadband connection in general.

When does this stop being a hobby or a pastime and becomes an addiction or obsession? I suppose when your Facebook status fascination starts interfering with your “real life” and you stop talking to your friends in favour of reading their personal updates instead.

While reading Facebook status updates can be a mildly assuming pastime, constantly refreshing your page in order to keep up with the pulse of all your friends might be construed as a problem. Seriously, do you really need to know that your girlfriend is going to spend her afternoon organizing her dresses by the colour spectrum?

Written on 31 December 2008 by admin under Facebook Addiction with No Comments
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No Facebook For Montenegro Government Workers

Montegro Goverment Offices Bans Facebook

I’m not sure that this is earth-shaking news, as I don’t expect that world is following the pulse of Montegronian civil servants, but Reuters thought it was important enough news to report that Montenegro has banned Facebook for government staff.

I’ve always found that moderate use of the Internet in the workplace, such as on schedule breaks and lunchtime is accepetable, but I don’t set policy in Montenegro (or any other country for that matter). However, like Gmail, Hotmail, Stumbelupon, Myspace, and Addictinggames.com, Facebook can be a major time bandit when it comes to office productivity.

So if you are hoping to gain employment with the Montenegro government, and you just can’t go a whole afternoon without accessing your Facebook pages, then I suggest that you skip the interview and look for a job in a more Internet-friendly office environment!

Written on 18 December 2008 by admin under Facebook Productivity with No Comments
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Criminals Know When You’re Away, If You Tell Them

It’s funny that when you go on vacation, you do what you can to make your home appear that someone is still living there, even though the house is going to be empty for the next two or three weeks. You arrange to have your newspapers discontinued, you get a friend to pick up your mail, and you use automated timers to turn lights on and off (at random times) to make it appear that you’re still home.

But to the smart criminal, who might be casing your home, advertising on your Facebook page about your camping trip, Hawaiian vacation, or other excursion is just the sort of information that tells them when they can break in.

Now, it might sound overly paranoid to think that someone is waiting to find out when you are leaving on holidays, but if you think like a criminal, all they need to do is scan through a few hundred Facebook accounts, find some suitable names of people that live in their targeted area, find some key information on their open and public profile page about where they live (and match it up with information available in the telephone book), and learn when and where that person is traveling.

If I know that you’re going to Maui on the Labor Day long weekend, and that you live in Renton, Washington, and I already have your name and address, it doesn’t take much (if you’re a thief) to know when is the best time to strike.

The idea might seem preposterous, but criminals use these details every day to commit crimes, whether if it’s for a home break-in, an office robbery, or some other criminal act. The point is, that personal information just provides more useful details to the criminal elements who are looking for any advantage when planning a crime. Your Facebook account is just one more source of useful information for crooks.

Written on 25 August 2008 by admin under Facebook Privacy with No Comments
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Facebook Is A Target For Scammers

Facebook Fraudsters Reach New Low

There was a very disappointing article in Canadian newspapers the other day where someone impersonated the sister of a murder victim in order to ingratiate themselves to sympathetic Facebook members.

The person pretended to be a grieving sibling in order to solicit money as part of a relief fund, hoping to get money out of Facebook members who were willing to help out. Thankfully, the scammer was discovered, and the impact was minimized, but the fact that people can use Facebook (or any other Internet medium) to impersonate others, grabbing readily-available information from personal profiles and other public web pages makes the Internet just a little bit more unsafe.

If you insist on putting a lot of personal information on your Facebook profile, ensure that your profile is protected, only available to your friends. Even then, don’t expect it to be private, as there are loopholes and other ways to access your details.

Certainly, before you open up your wallet, you should ensure that the money you intend to donate goes to the proper recipient, hopefully through a registered charity or organization, and not some online scumbag.

Written on 21 August 2008 by admin under Facebook Fraud with No Comments
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Facebook A Danger To Soldiers

This story on Wired about how Facebook Threatens Soldiers is just one more reason to stay out of (or keep private) the details of your personal life, and more importantly your military life.

The story explains that soldiers can put themselves at greater risk because the “enemy” (not Facebook) can access the Internet just as well as everyone else, and war photos, profile information, wall posts, and other seemingly innocent content can reveal volumes of information and create potential danger to those serving in countries such as Iraq or Afghanistan.

Social networking sites such as Facebook can be exploited by those wishing to cause terror, havoc, or other problems for military personnel, as even the smallest bit of intelligence can be used to advantage.

Brig. Gen. Peter Atkinson stated in the article that “80 percent” of enemy “battle damage assessment[s]” are from online sources like Facebook.

Of course, conspiracy theorists and propaganda specialists would likely argue that the amount of misinformation on the Internet could cause more problems and confusion for the enemy than the actual facts.

Written on 01 August 2008 by admin under with No Comments
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Facebook Could Cost You A Job

Employers Shouldn’t Be Poking Around Your Facebook

facebook job resumeThere are a lot of questions surrounding the boundaries that employers or potential employers should have regarding your personal life, whether the information comes up during your employment, or during the hiring process. If you have nothing to hide, then that’s swell, but your Facebook speaks volumes that don’t appear on your job resume.

When an employer researches potential candidates, Google and other search engines are a powerful tool for finding out previous employment history or other character traits of job applicants. And Facebook is a pure resource for finding out anything and everything about a person’s past and present. Even Business Week writes about the dangers of Facebook, as it’s an open book for employers to find out more dirty details about people before they hire them.

Now having a Facebook profile open to your new boss might be a show of trust and honesty, those New Year’s party pictures could cost you that promotion!

Written on 29 July 2008 by admin under Facebook Rants with No Comments
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Facebook Can Ruin Relationships

Facebroken

facebook relationshipsIt doesn’t take much to screw up a relationship on Facebook. Now while most couples have a strong communication base, Facebook does its darnedest to put relationships to the test.

Whether it’s an ex-girlfriend who asks to be added to your friends list, a beautiful girl who happens to write on your wall, or a glitch with your “relationship” status in your personal profile, Facebook can easily cause rifts in your otherwise happy relationship.

One Facebook bug in a profile changed a woman’s status from “engaged” to “single” and caused enough of a stir to get fifty messages sent to her email box wondering “what happened?”. Of course, nothing had changed in the relationship, but putting the water on those coals took a couple of hours of unproductive time.

While Facebook can be a great window into the worlds of peoples’ lives, it can also cause friction, misunderstandings, and even break-ups, whether intentional or accidental. Friends, romances, and even long-term relationships have ended simply from the power of social networking. Is yours next? :)

Written on 29 July 2008 by admin under Facing The Truth with No Comments
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Facebook Causes Hallucinations

It appears that Facebook can cause hallucinations in normal people. If you don’t believe me, this image is from The Cavalier Daily, an obviously respectable publication:

outta my facebookJust look at what too many hours of Facebooking can do to an average person.

This normal American woman was only on Facebook for ten minutes before she started hallucinating. For chrissakes, there’s a human hand coming out of her monitor!!! And all of the keys have vanished from her keyboard!

Also, it appears that her bra is being pulled away from her left breast.

You see, this is what happens to people who use Facebook! People, do yourselves a favor, and turn off your computer…after you’ve finished reading this blog of course!

Written on 14 September 2007 by admin under Facing The Truth with No Comments
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