Facebook Identity Theft

That’s right – you read it right. It seems that it’s possible for an identity thief to gather small information about you from your Facebook account and use it to his advantage.

A few months back, my email account was hacked into (this happens to me quite frequently in the last 3 years) so I deleted my Facebook account as the email account was used to register for my Facebook account.

Recently, I registered a new account with Facebook under a pseudonym because I believe the person that hacked into my email account is someone that has been stalking me for years and was trying to get photos or any sort of information from my Facebook account. Also, this person managed to hack into my other email account - yes, I had a few and he (perhaps a woman pretending to be a man?) seemed to be able to track me down on all my other email accounts.

Anyway, back to Facebook – it has been helpful to me in the past because I was able to get back in touch with my primary and secondary schoolmates, along with old friends I met through university and work. In that area, Facebook is a good tool. However, it can be quite detrimental to some people as I have experienced myself, and also family and friends. I have never included my personal details on Facebook, save for my real name and birth date. No phone numbers, email addresses and IM/Chat information.

With my new Facebook account which I am being very careful with, I do not list any personal details at all – not even my birth date, work place (I work as a freelance writer from home ‘smile’ – so no point in listing it!), education background and such. Why should I when the people I add are family and friends I have known for more than a few years. I do not add people I don’t know and the best thing about my new account is that no one knows it’s ME, the real me.