Finding Public Information

One area of the internet which is very popular but comes in for an awful lot of criticism is the social networking sector, the likes of MySpace, Facebook, BEBO, etc. But why do they come in for so much criticism?

The problem with these social networking sites is the over willingness for many members, normally youngsters, to give away far too much detail about their lives and interests. We are seeing more and more youngsters placing everything from their date of birth to their school address online for all to see. While 99% of those who view the information would never dream of doing anything with it, there are some who would. While the paedophiles quite rightly take the limelight as regulators fight to keep them offline and away from the most vulnerable of society, there are also a growing number of fraud cases involving older members of social networks.

Many people do not realise that by simply stating where you were born and when, together with your full name, anyone in the UK for example can obtain a copy of your birth certificate. Using this detail it is then possible to obtain passports, credit cards and the like, and then the real fun begins!

More and more people are suddenly finding themselves black listed for no reason or on the end of demands for repayment of monies they did not even know about. Too many of us think that it will never happen to us, and while the facts indicate that the chances of it happening to you are very low, the more you leave yourself open to attack the more chance it will happen. These fraudsters are no fools, they are ruthless, they are methodical and they will bleed you dry given a chance.

It is vital that when joining any of the vast array of social networking sites you do not give away personal information, because one day you might just regret it!

About the author
Andreas co-founded Xavier Media® in 1996 and has since been involved in all kinds of development, marketing and making money online.