How Safe is FaceBook

Every single day, more people are setting up a FaceBook account. The program is free for people to join and it is an excellent way to stay in touch with friends and family and to reconnect with people that you had lost touch with. One of the things that people tend to forget is that there is some risk involved with using FaceBook and that you have to be careful when it comes to protecting you identity.

Is FaceBook Really Safe?

People are constantly wondering if FaceBook is safe and what are the chances that a membership to the site is going to land them in the middle of an identity theft scam. The reality is that the site itself is pretty safe. The FaceBook staff has taken great strides towards increasing the websites security as much as they can. The biggest problem that the website has is people who create fake accounts for the sole purpose of scamming other members and stealing their identity.

The Scam

The way that this scam works is that the fake person creates a fake account and then sends out a hundred or so friend requests, and uses the personal information that they were able to gather from the site to steal identities. The most common personal information that was passed out was the member’s birthdates which, along with their name, provides more than enough information for an identity thief to put together false information that they can use for things like medical scams and trying to get credit cards. One experiment showed that the younger a FaceBook member was, the more susceptible they were to friending someone they didn’t know. During the course of the experiment 8% of FaceBook members who were over the age of 56, while 89% of the 20 year olds did. This is particularly alarming when you consider how many middle and grade school children have FaceBook accounts.

Why Identity Theft Happens on FaceBook

One of the biggest problems with FaceBook and the reason some people who use the site have their identity stolen is that they fail to use common sense. They basically set themselves up. The first way to make sure that you are protected while using Facebook is by only agreeing to friendships with people that you really know, and with whom you share a connection. One rule of thumb is that if you would not recognize the person if you walked past them in the grocery store, than you probably should not agree to their FaceBook friendship.

What You Can Do

If you are worried about your identity staying safe, you should avoid playing FaceBook games. The games themselves are fairly safe, but they tend to provide a means for scammers to cultivate friendships that could lead to the theft of your identity. If you are interested in playing computer games, you should go to your local computer store and pick up a nice off line game which will not compromise your security.

Another thing you want to be careful about when it comes to dealing with FaceBook is giving out to much personal information, this includes in your wall posts and when you are chatting with someone. Do not mention anything financial or leave comments that could hint at what bank you regularly use or that could give away your passwords. Having a FaceBook account requires you to use some common sense.