Get Off My Space and Watch Your Accounts

Rhonda and I had dinner last night with some law enforcement types. Conversation turned to the latest crime used by exploiting things like My Space, and Face Book or simply using stolen information from often a third party vendor for a corporation that has all of your personal information. In the latest My Space or Face Book gig, hackers read sites and get all kinds of personal information, such as names, friends, events (they also know what you look like). They will then contact a person and tell them that they attended an event, such as a basketball game or a party, they are friends of Bob or Jane, your friends or your son's or daughter's and they have some great photos. They then ask the person to click on the link they email them and voila, Malware has just infected your system. And if you are using a corporate system, perhaps the entire system of the company. Read more about Malware and the process here. In another scam, using personal information taken by stealing your personal information, name, address, phone number and Social Security number, thieves may be able to then tap into your line of credit or equity (they stole account numbers as well). Of course, the bank is going to call you and ask you to fax over signed permission, but that is easy for thieves to deal with using call forwarding. So keep checking your accounts.