Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Does Rise of 'Space Faking' Mean More Identity Theft?

by Lee Bains on January 6, 2009 at 10:09 AM



Of late, there have surfaced so many instances of impersonation on social networking sites that critics have given the practice a name: "space faking."

According to a report by the Sydney Morning Herald, "Social networking sites are being overrun by space fakers, who swipe other users' photos and create entirely new identities for themselves."

This ought not be news to social networking site users, who have undoubtedly come across fake celebrity profiles on Facebook, MySpace and their competitors. In fact, a Web site -- FakersBusted.com -- has been established just to expose these masqueraders. But, while such celebrity impersonations are usually benign, performed out of admiration more than much else, some experts find a correlation between the respective rises of "space faking" and online identity theft.

To reiterate a point from last month's report on social networking cyber crime, the most effective way to prevent this sort of identity theft is simple: Don't transmit anything serious, let alone sensitive, over social networking sites. [From: Sydney Morning Herald]

Tags: id theft, IdTheft, safety, security, social networking, SocialNetworking, space fakers, space faking, SpaceFakers, SpaceFaking, web

Comments

1

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular