Fears over Facebook identity theft

by Gabriel Tan

May 19 , 2008

FACEBOOK users are putting themselves at risk of identity theft.

Founded in 2004, the social networking website now has over 65 million users from 81 countries.

However, Joel Chng, an avid Facebook user, said he’s been a victim of identity theft.

“I had my credit card cancelled once,” Mr Chng said.  “I figured someone must have used my personal details on Facebook to do that.

“I was very worried as to what else the fraudster had access to.”

Some of the security checks required by frausters to convince banks and schools to cancel an account are birth dates, email addresses, and previous schools. These are all easily available on many Facebook accounts.

Susan Hirst, a member services officer at Unicredit says there are several things a person armed with a name and date of birth can do.

“It’s shocking how much information people are willing to put out on Facebook,” she said.  “With a date of birth, you can check balances, see who else is on the account, and even cancel accounts.

“If something happens, it’s their own stupid fault for putting out all their information on Facebook.”

A fraud investigation officer from Bankwest told eMU News that users have to be careful of what they publicly reveal.

“It used to take weeks to get sufficient information to steal an identity,” said Lauren (surname withheld).  “Now it just takes one or two hours.

“Users should be careful about which information is revealed so that it will not come back and wreck havoc.