Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.
Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.
Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.
Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.
17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.
Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."
Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?
If you thought your Facebook and MySpace pages were just good for keeping in touch with friends, think again. We've shown how they can impact how potential employers perceive you, and so it should be no surprise that college admissions officers, the people who decide whether you're in or out, are also doing some profile surfing before deciding on accepting or rejecting a given candidate.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MadMike said 10:13AM on 11-10-2008
I, for one and am very grateful I graduated college 10 years ago.
I do not think it's fair or legal. For one, there are a lot of people with the same name. What if John Smith applying to Cornell is actually a decent guy, but the John Smith who happens to live in the same area and who is a drunken ass is the one with the facebook or myspace account?
Mistaken identity is VERY easy, especially when people don't put home addresses and full date of births on internet profiles and don't include self portraits with college applications.
Also, that's another reason why you make profiles PRIVATE!
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me said 2:07AM on 11-13-2008
Haha are you for real? Just because you put something out there doesn't mean people or institutions (even private institutions, to a degree) can discriminate against you based on it.
In a hypothetical case of someone not giving you an offer because they facebooked you and saw you were or , are you sure that's "certainly legal"?
Unrelated: privacy settings; learn to love them, folks.
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The V-Chip said 1:52AM on 11-24-2008
Actually, some companies have software to let them get by the privacy settings.
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angelistarr said 10:13AM on 12-03-2008
Even better advice: Dont give schools the same information you use to login to these social networking sites. The email addresses you use for one shouldnt be used for the other. These people dont easily go by names (I know because Ive worked in the admissions office at my college), they go by finding your email address. That's why its important to have several email addresses for different uses.
Either way, I dont think its ethical at all to be rejecting potential students based on their internet pages. It has nothing to do with the student themselves. Also, not always what you see is correct.
Someone said it before me... PRIVACY SETTINGS LEARN TO LOVE AND USE THEM.
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