Know Your Facebook Friends: Fake-Account Fraud Is on the Rise
Most people probably know better than to send money or provide sensitive personal information to strangers via the Internet.
But a Facebook friend may be a different story. That is the reason why hackers create fake accounts for nonexistent individuals or phish for data that lets them steal actual Facebook accounts. Then they sell the bogus social networking accounts to others to make use of, reports the Dealbook blog of the New York Times.
Such fraudulent use of Facebook accounts seems to be on the rise in the United States, the blog says. However, the relatively low asking price to purchase bogus accounts on the Internet suggests they can’t be all that lucrative to criminals.
Facebook administrators recommend that users reject friend requests for those they don’t know. Meanwhile, Facebook monitors accounts for signs of suspicious activity so fake accounts can be disabled “before the bad guys get very far,” spokesman Simon Axten tells the newspaper.
