More on identity theft

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I was talking to a friend of my last night about how people just put up their information online without a second thought and how easy it would be to steal their identity.

We were talking about the kind of information people put up on sites like Friendster, Facebook, etc. Our friends and other people post their e-mail, birthdates, telephone numbers, pictures, etc.

He mentioned about a friend who put up his info on Friendster and Yahoo, when one day, someone asked to be added to his Yahoo Messenger. He didn't know who it was but just added the person anyway. A few days later, the person sent his friend a link and when he clicked the link, it too him to a website that copied his password and info on his Yahoo Messenger.

Now that the person has his friend's info and contact list, the thief sent a message to his contact list asking them for monetary help saying that he needed to go back to the Philippines and needed money. His friends sent the guy money and I believe that thief got around $600.

Of course, his friend had to get new usernames and e-mails for his Yahoo Messenger and answer his friend why he needed money from them.

That's the danger of not thinking before putting all your information online. Especially for people in the Philippines where kidnapping is prevalent. A lot of my friends put up pictures of their children with them in it. Can you imagine how much easier it is for criminals to know who your family members are?

Be careful what you put on your blogs/website or social networking sites. You never know who's watching.

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