Warning – Facebook fraud

Social networking is a great way to stay connected to family and friends at home and around the world. Unfortunately, it is also a potential gateway for fraudsters to gather information for identity theft. Often fraudsters gather information by posting a phony profile. This is exactly what happened recently when high school and university students thought they had found a fee for service organization to assist them in finding scholarship money and admissions. Rather than helping them the fraudster gained their credit card and other information to steal their identity and gain access to their money. As well, information can be gleaned from Facebook profiles when ‘apps’ (applications) are downloaded. Here are a few tips to help you avoid becoming a victim of Facebook fraud:

• Never give out your password.
• Never give out your credit card information.
• Be very suspicious when an apps takes you to a new page.
  • Check the domain name and do not insert your password.
  • Once the apps download has begun do not accept additional installation requests – these may be viruses.
• Adjust your settings to help protect your identity.
  • Think very carefully about who you allow to be your ‘friend’.
  • Limit access to your profile information.
  • Give access to your profile, photos, status updates and other personal information to your friends only.
  • Do not share contact information or apps on your profile with anyone.
  • Do not allow your public search listings to be indexed by search engines.
  • Do not allow non-friends to view your friend list, send a message or add you as a friend.