Online Identity in the News- Week of 2/9
Each week we post stories from around the web and media that detail how identity effects society and its importance. As always, feel free to post links you have found in the comments. Here is the roundup for the week of 2/9/2009:
Fake Social Network Profiles: a New Form of Identity Theft in 2009
Interesting post about how the newest identity theft threat focuses around fake online profiles. Your friends fun little joke could turn into more of serious issue when a fake profile is created using your photos and personal information. They may think its a fun way to “set you up” with people you would never talk to and have your embarrassing pictures posted for all to see, however what happens when one of these strangers approaches you and you have no idea who they are.
New Berlin teen accused of using Facebook for Sexual Blackmail
Another horrible story about how a lack of identity on Facebook caused major trouble amongst teens. This is obviously one of the main concerns parents have with these social websites. Sexual predators and other criminals can create fake profiles and pose as teenagers and be able to talk with your children.
Thousands of MySpace Sex Offender Refugees Found on Facebook
MySpace employs technology to identify potential sex offenders on their site. So what do they do — move over to Facebook. When will enough be enough? There needs to be a better system in place to monitor who is signing up for these social websites. It was easy enough for 90,000 sexual predators to establish profiles, who else is on there?
Identity Theft: It’s Out of Your Hands
According to Gartner, 15 million identities per year are stolen, a new victim once every 2 seconds. Given 15 million a year, in ten years every U.S. citizen who uses the Net will have had his or her identity stolen. Everytime you make a purchase online, give out any personal information, or have your information posted onine you run the rish of identity theft. Keep your personal information offline.
Online Resumes are easy target for Identity Thieves
Having your resume posted on the internet could easily attract online thieves pretending to be an employer to offer you a job and then ask for personal information such as drivers license and bank account information. Think about how much personal information is on your resume, name, address, phone number, previous places of work, colleges. Plenty enough information for someone to steal your identity.
Predators Panic Increases Risk
Sexual predators being able to create profiles on MySpace and Facebook and talk to children. How can so many registered sex offenders and criminals be able to sign up and create fake profiles for these social websites? Parents beware of who your children are communicating with online.
Locking Away Secrets Crucial to Online Trading
No matter how sophisticated the online trading companies make their software, responsibility for keeping personal data away from would-be identity thieves ultimately rests with the consumer. Older adults are more skeptical about investing online because of their unfamiliarity with the internet and are more subject to giving out personal information to would be identity thieves unknowingly.
Log Out: The Social Networking Backlash
Anyone can create a fake profile of someone they know and have full on relationships posing as this other person affecting their personal relationships, credit history, and safety. I easily have enough information and pictures of a friend that if I wanted to, could create an online profile of them and single handedly ruin their reputation. Obviously I am a normal law abiding citizen who cherishes their friendships, however think about someone you know and how easy it would be to have this done to you. Think about jobs that could be lost, friendships over, and even credit history could be damaged if someone else was controlling your online profiles.
Summit County residents who are searching online for employment are being targeted by internet con artists who are out to get their money. Ok, so your resume is posted on an online job site, you get a call the next day from Joe and Joe Inc, offering you a great job, however they need more information before they bring you in, a copy of your drivers license maybe? a bank account number? Make sure you know exactly who is contacting you and never ever give out personal information until you know for sure.
Children Being Victimized By Identity Thieves
Parents are unknowingly giving out too much of their children’s information when signing them up for programs and are new targets for identity thefts because of their clean credit records. Think about how many things you sign your children up for, swimming lessons, soccer team, art class. Lots of paperwork is done with your childs information on it. It could be very easy for a identity thief to steal your childs completley clean background.
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One Response to “Online Identity in the News- Week of 2/9”
You raise great points in this post, my question is what can be done to help these problems amongst social networks and the identity thieves out there? How can you prevent online sex predators from signing up on facebook? How can you prevent Joe and Joe Inc from calling Mary Smith? I think the best thing to do is raise awareness and make sure that people know the risks of putting their information online.
By Evan H on Feb 12, 2009