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YOUR RISKS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF FACEBOOK AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
Guillermo D.
Jalil, M.S.
There are tourists who flaunt what they have.
Conspicuous consumption is broadcasted on Facebook pages and MySpace
accounts.
Reality check: Criminals often set up Facebook accounts
to view your page. They use attractive people to befriend you
online and then access your information. Their goal?
They seek to profile you in terms of your monetary value, or in terms of
a potential ransom.
What you post is a threat to your personal security.
In many foreign countries, hotel clerks will review your Facebook page
and report your arrival to kidnappers and other criminal enterprises.
These criminal groups, gangs, or operators vary from three stooges to
former military.
They will assess the probability to collect a ransom
based on several of many factors-- and size you up quickly. What is your social status and who are your friends?
If your friends look happy and prosperous, then you are most likely in
their category.
What is your profession? Organized criminals
pick targets that are able to save wealth.
What are your hobbies, activities and interests?
If you appear to have leisure time, money, and interests, then you can
afford a kidnapping. Your family can also afford a ransom.
Who is your family and their friends? What is
your family's social status? You're no longer home. They are
considering your family's ability to pay a claim.
Who do you work for? Will your business, your
employees or your employer have the resources to pay the ransom?
Is it likely your company pays ransom insurance?
If they kill you, are you politically connected that
it may create problems for them? This question is only raised the
kidnappers are former military or former law enforcement.
The Three Stooges type criminal group don't care about your
connections, unless it means your family will pay up. Three Stooges
type groups are
likely to engage in arbitrary violence, and they are more unpredictable.
It all starts with the information you disseminate.
What are you saying about yourself? Please take down the Facebook
page while you're gone. Set the security settings so only your
friends will see your page. Google your name and make a judgment
call of what others may think you're financial worth.
Your Facebook page is also used to develop a list of
people to contact in an effort of blackmail involving sexual bribery,
honey-pots, and industrial espionage.
Please, wear a cheap watch. Dress
conservatively. Don't get drunk. Don't accept drinks from
strangers. Take down that Facebook page before you go. Give
yourself a new nickname. And please--shut up about what you have
and what you do. Tell people on a "need to know" basis.
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