I had to raise an eyebrow last night when I caught the late night news report about a Local Radio Host Scammed By Facebook Fraud. Reason being I recently submitted an article for my Internet Strategies column on the very subject of protecting yourself online, and within the column I covered the very Facebook scam that this individual fell for.
You have to wonder how these scammers can be so clever as to get into your private account considering the majority of these criminals that have been caught or scammed themselves are about as smart as a sack of hammers.
Clearly everyone will recommend changing your password often or using something clever. In addition I suggest the less Facebook shenanigans you click through, the less chances of inadvertently going somewhere you shouldn't be. I say that not only as an alert to privacy but also to help avoid all of those crazy viruses you see popping up from time to time. By shenanigans I mean hitting ignore when you get requests to play a game, upload your picture to an application to add a ribbon to it or install an application that allows you to change Facebook to the old version. Be critical of the things you play with on Facebook and the better off you'll be.
And on the subject of passwords, be sensible. If you're using your cats name as a password and you have publicly posted "I love my cat Fuzzy Paws", it shouldn't be too hard for a crook to give that a shot at your login. During a recent password audit at a company, it was found that a receptionist was using the following password:
"MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento"
When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.
Okay that's not true (I think) but you get the idea. Be aware on Facebook and approach the fun and games part of it with caution. I've heard the chat module has been manipulated to obtain access to accounts therefore I keep it turned off. I try to avoid clicking on antything without close scrutiny such as video links that do not go to a known video site (YouTube for example) or external links that have been shortened (for example: http://tinyurl/123456789).
Be safe so you won't be sorry and if any of your friends send you a message asking you to wire money, pick up the phone and check it out with that friend or do what you can to send the scammer on a safari in search of money you never sent. Sometimes scamming the scammer can be very entertaining.
Facebook Fraud: The New 419 Scam?
