Facebook Crimes on the rise, experts warn
Baku, August 13 (AZERTAC). Facebook crimes ranging from scams to online bullying are on the rise, and they are getting more sophisticated, experts warn.
It`s no secret that scammers on the social media website rely on carefully crafted baits that often include scandalous and explicit video content or exclusive footage of the latest and hottest events, from celebrity death claims to never-before-seen footage of a natural disaster.
Just last week, a "clickjacking" scam that claimed Lady Gaga was found dead in a hotel room spread like wildfire on Facebook thanks to a link that took users to a fake BBC News website.
Ploys such as the Lady Gaga scam aim to increase clicks to a page or link because they are paid by advertisers for every click they help generate. Others steal personal information, from names to addresses that are extracted when users fill out a fake survey, and that data is later sold to other cybercriminals.
Meanwhile, rarer cybercrimes on Facebook involve the installation of malicious software, or "malware," on computers so credit card information can be easily stolen.
However, the rise of these Facebook crimes isn`t limited to just scams and phishing activities. There`s also cyberbullying, sexual predation and even robberies that occur after users post GPS location about their whereabouts to inform others they are out of town.
As Facebook becomes riskier to use, experts are weighing in on why these crimes are happening at such a rapid rate.
"These types of crimes are designed to use your own actions or weaknesses against you," said Lynette Owens, director of Internet Safety for Kids & Families, an online resource hosted by Trend Micro, a global digital security firm based in Tokyo.
"As humans, and for good reason, we put trust in others more often than not because most people at most times are worthy of that trust. The online world is no different than the offline world in that sense."
A recent Pew Internet & American Life study found that Facebook users are more trusting than people who are not members of the social networking site.
In fact, a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day is 43 percent more likely than other Internet users and more than three times as likely as non-Internet users to feel that most people can be trusted.
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