Social Networking and Identity Theft

Posted in: Security in gilbertogalea's Blog

Federal Trade Commission - Identity Theft

Identity theft is a serious crime. It occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes.

www.consumer.gov

www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

recortado de Google - 1/2008

Social networking is a great way to meet new people, share stories or promote your business interests online. It can also be a very dangerous place. It's always a wise decision to be careful about the information you do share online.

One of my biggest concerns with social networking is exposing myself to the possibility of identity theft. I can't help but wonder, "how much information a criminal actually needs to steal my identity". How much information is too much information?

Do you want to know what's really scary?. It is estimated that ten million people are victims or identity theft ever year. I watched the latest news stories about identity theft. I have absolutely no reason to believe I am invincible. It can happen to anyone, including you

There're some guides to explain to prevent that kind of crimen, you may be visit: PrivacyRights.com with good recomendations.

Perhaps the FBI Offers Tips on How to Protect Yourself

If you encounter an unsolicited e-mail that asks you, either directly, or through a web site, for personal financial or identity information, such as Social Security number, passwords, or other identifiers, exercise extreme caution.
If you need to update your information online, use the normal process you've used before, or open a new browser window and type in the website address of the legitimate company's account maintenance page.
If a website address is unfamiliar, it's probably not real. Only use the address that you have used before, or start at your normal homepage.
Always report fraudulent or suspicious e-mail to your ISP.
Most companies require you to log in to a secure site. Look for the lock at the bottom of your browser and "https" in front of the website address.
Take note of the header address on the web site. Most legitimate sites will have a relatively short internet address that usually depicts the business name followed by ".com," or possibly ".org." Spoof sites are more likely to have an excessively long strong of characters in the header, with the legitimate business name somewhere in the string, or possibly not at all.
If you have any doubts about an e-mail or website, contact the legitimate company directly. Make a copy of the questionable web site's URL address, send it to the legitimate business and ask if the request is legitimate.
If you've been victimized, you should contact your local police or sheriff's department, and file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center at http://www.IFCCFBI.gov .

Another good service that I used at the find or lookup truth at Social Networking is RapLeaf.com, by example you can see my RapLeaf status: