Facebook can be used for identity theft, be careful

Facebook has become one of the largest, if not the largest, social networks in the World. It can bring people together to celebrate the Saints Super Bowl XLIV victory, or mourning the Colts loss, or to talk about Sarah Palin's awful use of hand-written notes for speeches. But with 350 million Facebook members, there's bound to be a crappy person or three hanging around. Some members are on Facebook just to steal your identity.

This video shows what happened when the people at Sophos Labs created a Facebook member who was a duck:



The Sophos Labs video makes sense but leaves out an important point: it's what you put in your Facebook profile, not so much who you friend. Using my profile "Zenophon Abraham" as an example, I have a lot of friends and many I do not know, but have shared business-related information, especially about events.

I use Facebook for networking; while I have information about me there, it's not my address or personal relationship status other than who my relative is (my half-sister Amanda). I don't have my instant message handle posted, I don't give details on where I am all the time, unlike some people.

And there's another strategy, too: saturation of self. My "self" - name with photo - is everywhere on the Internet because I am on so many blog and social media platforms; the idea is that so many people will see "me" that it's all but impossible for someone else to get away with saying they're me.

Me, Zennie Abraham , at the Leigh Steinberg Party 

I got the idea noticing how "out there" tech blogger Robert Scoble was - he's on a ton of networks and has thousands of contacts if not millions of them.

Identity theft is also successful when people don't know what you are supposed to look like. But, say, with Usher, it's harder to do.

Why do I mention Usher? Because there was a guy at the Leigh Steinberg Party who others claimed was Usher, including some friends of mine. I took one look at the guy and said "He's not Usher; Usher has a baby face. This guy looks like he's in his 40s." Moreover, he signed a napkin using the name "Usher". I didn't want to think the guy was impersonating Usher, but the the napkin autograph changed my mind.

But I digress. The point is, having a ready photo of Usher that we could call up on a Google Nexus Phone solved the problem. That guy, as I said, was not Usher.

Facebook is a great social network but you don't have to put everything about yourself there.