[Yessaniloas]

Monday January 17, 2011

Social network users now easy targets for criminals

PETALING JAYA: Forget about bringing criminals to book, the crooks are themselves going to the book – Facebook, that is. Many are targeting Malaysians – via their personal details posted on Facebook.

They are lifting information such as addresses, telephone numbers and even photographs for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to blackmail and sexual harassment.

Experts have criticised Malaysians for being too naive in accepting “friendship” requests from strangers.

Last year alone, some 400 crimes involving Facebook were reported to a cyber security group.

The trend is worrying because an international survey last year revealed that Malaysians had the most number of friends on social networking websites like Facebook with an average of 233 each – and spent up to nine hours each week logged on.