With “friends” like these – phishers on Facebook committing identity theft – who needs enemies?
Recently, identity thieves went on a “phishing” expedition on social networking site Facebook.com by using the “bait” of fake login pages to “catch” usernames and passwords. They spammed Facebook users through the site’s mail system with one-line messages containing a link to “fbaction.net,” a site that mimicked Facebook’s login screen. When users tried to login, the identity thieves stole their Facebook credentials, thus allowing them login as them and spam everyone on their Friend list.
This attack was only the latest on Facebook, and won’t be the last. Earlier this year, another Facebook user had his account hacked and his online identity stolen. Identity thieves changed his Facebook page to say he needed urgent help and hit up his friends for money. One “real” friend sent them over $1,000.
With over 66 million active users – and almost 250,000 new people signing up every day – Facebook is one of the fastest growing social networking websites in the world. At the same time, it is also a prime target for identity thieves and a variety of identity theft crimes. The format is ripe for phishers because Facebook regularly contacts its users through e-mail, and includes links in those e-mails to login pages. Phishers simply imitate Facebook e-mails and send users to counterfeit login pages that steal passwords.
Keeping your online identity and personal information secure and accurate is becoming more difficult in the Internet age. Security firms are seeing a sharp uptick in attacks on social networks, especially in the amount of phishing for login credentials. Individuals must constantly be on guard against identity theft.
The first step in protecting yourself is to protect your most sensitive personal information. Is it secure, current, and accurate? Now you can find out with a “personal” background check on yourself. While most background check companies only serve large companies, MyBackgroundCheck.com helps individuals who may want their own background checks to take control of their own personal information.
The company also provides background check services for online reputation management. By ordering your own social network or online dating background check and requesting that your new “friends” do the same, you validate both your identity and theirs, and can start your relationship with confidence.
MyBackgroundCheck.com also has recently added new features, resources, and interactivity to its site:
-
New Features: Users can invite others to view background checks, share background checks with other network users, access recent activity easily, and send messages to others in network.
-
New Resources: Frequently asked questions about background checks and legal issues with background checks.
-
New Interactivity: Stay up to date with background check news, receive special offers, display your public profile, and share your ideas and suggestions on how to improve your user experience.
For more information on “personal” background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.
Contact Us @ MyBackgroundCheck.com
tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com
*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!