Social networking sites allow us to connect with friends whether they are in the next room or the next hemisphere. As we become more dependent on these sites as common channels of communication, our social interactions become less and less personal. The average Facebook user has 130 friends on the site, according to statistics reported by the Facebook press room.
I'll go out on a limb and say that the average person does not have 130 true friends. The truth is, while we might be hesitant to speak with a random person on the street just because that person claimed to share a common friend or interest with us, a simple click of the mouse accepting someone's friend request seems pretty harmless (not to mention we look cooler having more "friends," duh).
Most of us understand that we should be wary of Facebook users whom we do not personally know. But few people realize that even their closest friends cannot be trusted in cyberspace. Last month, a Missouri woman was duped into wiring $4,000 to London, believing that she was saving her friend, who was allegedly detained there and needed the money to fly home, according to the Southeast Missourian. Jayne Scherrman received several messages requesting assistance from her friend, Grace Parry, who had been unable to access her account at the time because it had been hacked into by scammers.
"I not only felt angry, but violated," Parry told the Southeast Missourian. "It's just sad because they work on people's compassion, and Jayne's a very compassionate person."
So-called "friendly 419 scams," where criminals hack into people's accounts and use their information to extract money from their friends, are taking on ever-more disturbing models. The "grandma scam" targets elderly Facebook users who have grandchildren in the military. The few sweet, unsuspecting old ladies who have faced their inherent fear of technology in order to keep in touch with their precious youngsters are convinced that said soldier is planning a surprise visit to his parents, and that grannie should help him keep the secret. When grandson tells his grandma that his friend's car broke down and he needs money, Grannie obliges, only to find out that she has been duped.
"The targets here are being doubly victimized. They believe their grandchild is coming home from war and they are having their money taken from them under false pretenses," Sgt. Lyn Tomioka, public affairs officer for the San Franscisco Police Department, told NBC Miami.
So much for reassuring Grannie that the computer won't bite her.
Another popular and oh-so-sneaky scam tactic is "phishing." Phishers create official-looking links or applications that allow them to access users' profiles. A cool new "app" might ask a user for sensitive information such as his or her username and password, which then allows scammers to hijack a user's profile. These scammers can then use that person's identity to convince his or her friends to use the same link.
Links to fun quizzes and tests often seem harmless, which may well be why they manage to trip up so many people. One popular scam is an IQ test that asks users to enter their cell phone numbers in order to receive their results in a text message. Individuals who fall for this tactic later find mysterious charges on their cell phone bills. Some links are seemingly trustworthy, appearing to be from a user's bank or antivirus software. Ironically, people's "banks" might steal their money, and their "antivirus updates" might bug their computers.
The scam that gives people the heebie-jeebies is what I'll call the "fake real person" model. I'll illustrate with a personal example:
A few months ago, I was messaged by a girl named Isabella Renee Marciano via Facebook chat. I couldn't figure out who this girl was, or why I had friended her, but I looked at her profile and we apparently had nine friends in common, all on the Dartmouth track team. So I figured maybe she was a runner and had competed against me at some point or was a friend of a friend. This girl told me that she didn't know me personally but that she liked to "network," and that I had a great "look" for "athletic modeling."
When I pointed out that I'm pretty short, the woman assured me that "athletic" modeling was different than runway modeling, and that height wasn't much of an issue. I later got an e-mail from some "agent" named "Roman Young" telling me that "Isabella" had told him about me and he thought I had the look for some job for Puma, and that if I sent him a "rough profile" of digital pictures and he thought he could work with me. He said I'd make over $100,000 in this new career.
Rule of thumb: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
I blitzed all the friends I "had in common" with "Isabella" to learn that no one actually knew her. My next e-mail from "Roman" told me that the "rough profile" he wanted would consist of a bunch of pictures of me in a sports bra from all different angles.
When my concerned mother looked up this guy, she found that he was an actual agent, but that he had not sent any of the e-mails, and didn't even work for the agency that the "Roman Young" from my e-mails claimed to work for. The real Roman Young had received about 100 calls from girls who had similar experiences to mine, who said that some creeper was making fake model profiles and impersonating him.
Creeped out yet? I know I am. Social networking sites can be fantastic procrastinating tools, but they can also be fantastically effective at screwing you over. I'm not saying that you can't bring up your Facebook page when you're nodding of in class. Just be smart. DON'T give out ANY personal information.
Anything that asks for your username, password, phone or credit card number or address is pretty much guaranteed to be a ploy. Be wary of applications and links. Change your password frequently If you find that you cannot access your account, alert your friends and Facebook administrators to prevent hackers from scamming others. And please, make sure you actually know a person before you friend them. Common interests, friends or networks don't cut it. Unless you have met a person in the flesh and blood, you should not trust them online.
Okay, so maybe you'll have 200 friends instead of 300. Cry me a river.
