12.2.5 Case study: Social networking and fraud

The first step in protecting yourself against fraud is knowing what fraud is and how to recognize various types of fraud.

Radwan loved keeping in touch with all his friends on his social networking site. He enjoyed posting photos of his holidays and viewing the photos and profiles of his friends.

When an online buddy invited him to check out a new profile page, he clicked on the link. That took him to another page that asked him to log in again. Radwan thought that was odd, but he wanted to see the photos that his friend had posted on the new page. So he followed the log-in instructions, entering his email address and password.

The page, of course, was bogus. Radwan had just given away his security information to a scammer. The scammer could then go into Radwan's confidential profile and get information that was not public. He could change the settings to send or monitor messages in Radwan's name. On some sites, this information could also be used to make purchases and charge account services.

Lessons Radwan learned:

• Watch out for suspicious invitations to view another profile.
• Beware of any links that ask you to log in again.
• If the invitation comes via email, contact the friend to confirm that he or she sent it.
• Limit the amount of personal information you place on your profile page and make available to the public.