Social Networks make us easy targets www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta GA. Mar 8 2009
By: Rick McCann
Executive Director
National Association of
Private Officers
The internet is our friend and our enemy. We’ve come accustomed to using the net for everything from homework research, to business to socializing and in doing this we’ve let down our guard and opened up our hearts, our life, and our wallets to perfect strangers!
In this day and age, we would never think about leaving our front door wide open, unsecured while we slept in an upstairs bedroom or was away on vacation. It’s bad enough that even when the doors are locked and the place is buttoned up as secure as possible, thieves break in anyways.
By: Rick McCann
Executive Director
National Association of
Private Officers
The internet is our friend and our enemy. We’ve come accustomed to using the net for everything from homework research, to business to socializing and in doing this we’ve let down our guard and opened up our hearts, our life, and our wallets to perfect strangers!
In this day and age, we would never think about leaving our front door wide open, unsecured while we slept in an upstairs bedroom or was away on vacation. It’s bad enough that even when the doors are locked and the place is buttoned up as secure as possible, thieves break in anyways.
But this is exactly what we do everyday while using social networks. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plaxo or any of the other hundreds of sites now popping up everywhere. We give the world a glimpse into our personal lives, our family, our job and everything that is us. We write about our friends and our family members on these pages and update the world with our blogs and our bulletins and are constantly updating our friends and those who are watching us online to everything that is new, different, good, bad, happy, where we are going to dinner, on vacation or even when we buy a new car, house or clothes. And even though you see it as just harmless information no different than talking to friends or family on the telephone, it’s exactly what scammers are looking for.
When Robert Gustaveson’s phone rang last week, he got an unexpected request from a man claiming to be his grandson. “He wanted me to send him $3,000 by MoneyGram,” Gustaveson said. The man said he had been arrested in Canada for drinking and driving and needed the cash quickly to pay the fine. “He sounded like Michael. He talked about his wife, named her by name, his little boy,” Gustaveson said.
Gustaveson, a former judge and attorney, nearly took the bait. But he thought twice about it and checked things out. “It turned out he (Michael) was in Virginia, and he wasn’t up in Toronto at all,” Gustaveson said.
Experts say the scam can likely be traced to the Internet. “The type of scam is common,” said Kevin Olsen, director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
It’s a sympathy scam in which the attacker knows all about you: your hobbies, your friends, and your family. “We put our guard up for the Social Security numbers and the names, and that kind of personal information, but we haven’t put our guard up for the other kinds of personal information,” Olsen said
Travis Tidball works for Digicert, a Utah company that provides encryption services to companies like Facebook. He says the scam can also work like this: Someone steals your account details on Facebook, messages all your friends about some false tragedy, and then asks them to please send money.
“Other people might think it’s weird, but you’re seeing it come from a friend of yours, and so instantly this new scam has credibility,” Tidball said.
We also make it easy for people to track us down physically by listing our hometown, our work address and work phone number, our colleges and everything that we’ve done in the past and hope to do in the future. We list previous employers and schools, we post family pictures that have identifying details such as a company or school name, an address on a mailbox or your house number, our children’s names and schools and a whole lot of information that could easily be used by criminals to plot serious and dangerous crimes against you such as burglaries, carjacking, robberies and even kidnappings. Some people’s attitude is about posting too much information is surprising as they respond with things like, I’ve got nothing to hide, my life is an open book, it’s a small community, and everyone knows me anyhow.
Consider this:
A bank robbery suspect recently targeted his victim by first selecting her through her online profile which noted that she was an assistant manager at a local bank. He tracked her down like a detective acting on some hot leads by knowing the name of her city and state and seeing a picture of her wearing a t-shirt with the name of a bank on it. He quickly checked the online phone book and learned where that bank was and soon was in town conducting surveillance on it. In a matter of a few hours he had identified the woman from her online profile, followed her home, and kidnapped her. The next day he forced her to drive to the bank and with her assistance, robbed it and fled.
So, how do you make sure this doesn’t happen to you? The truth is, if you’re using these social-networking Web sites, your information is out there. Be cautious about what you put online and how much information you share and advertise. Don’t post pictures with identifying information, phone numbers, addresses or even employer informatuion.
When Robert Gustaveson’s phone rang last week, he got an unexpected request from a man claiming to be his grandson. “He wanted me to send him $3,000 by MoneyGram,” Gustaveson said. The man said he had been arrested in Canada for drinking and driving and needed the cash quickly to pay the fine. “He sounded like Michael. He talked about his wife, named her by name, his little boy,” Gustaveson said.
Gustaveson, a former judge and attorney, nearly took the bait. But he thought twice about it and checked things out. “It turned out he (Michael) was in Virginia, and he wasn’t up in Toronto at all,” Gustaveson said.
Experts say the scam can likely be traced to the Internet. “The type of scam is common,” said Kevin Olsen, director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
It’s a sympathy scam in which the attacker knows all about you: your hobbies, your friends, and your family. “We put our guard up for the Social Security numbers and the names, and that kind of personal information, but we haven’t put our guard up for the other kinds of personal information,” Olsen said
Travis Tidball works for Digicert, a Utah company that provides encryption services to companies like Facebook. He says the scam can also work like this: Someone steals your account details on Facebook, messages all your friends about some false tragedy, and then asks them to please send money.
“Other people might think it’s weird, but you’re seeing it come from a friend of yours, and so instantly this new scam has credibility,” Tidball said.
We also make it easy for people to track us down physically by listing our hometown, our work address and work phone number, our colleges and everything that we’ve done in the past and hope to do in the future. We list previous employers and schools, we post family pictures that have identifying details such as a company or school name, an address on a mailbox or your house number, our children’s names and schools and a whole lot of information that could easily be used by criminals to plot serious and dangerous crimes against you such as burglaries, carjacking, robberies and even kidnappings. Some people’s attitude is about posting too much information is surprising as they respond with things like, I’ve got nothing to hide, my life is an open book, it’s a small community, and everyone knows me anyhow.
Consider this:
A bank robbery suspect recently targeted his victim by first selecting her through her online profile which noted that she was an assistant manager at a local bank. He tracked her down like a detective acting on some hot leads by knowing the name of her city and state and seeing a picture of her wearing a t-shirt with the name of a bank on it. He quickly checked the online phone book and learned where that bank was and soon was in town conducting surveillance on it. In a matter of a few hours he had identified the woman from her online profile, followed her home, and kidnapped her. The next day he forced her to drive to the bank and with her assistance, robbed it and fled.
So, how do you make sure this doesn’t happen to you? The truth is, if you’re using these social-networking Web sites, your information is out there. Be cautious about what you put online and how much information you share and advertise. Don’t post pictures with identifying information, phone numbers, addresses or even employer informatuion.
Remember that the internet is like talking on an old fashioned party line, you never know whose listening.
If someone contacts you asking for money, question them and before sending any money, call that person’s home phone number and other family and acquaintances to verify the store. If you’re not sure of the validity of the call, don’t send the money and call the police.
If someone contacts you asking for money, question them and before sending any money, call that person’s home phone number and other family and acquaintances to verify the store. If you’re not sure of the validity of the call, don’t send the money and call the police.
The internet has millions of criminals surfing and phising, watching and waiting for you to make critical mistakes, thereby opening you up to be an easy mark, an easy target. Don’t be their next victim.
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