Facebook Stalking

[wheypat]

Went out at the weekend for something to eat and one of the waitresses was very attractive. Stop dead gorgeous - even my wife remarked on how utterly appealing she was. #1 son was captivated (OK, she must have been 20-23 and he's 14 so he was never going to get anywhere) but as he's recently joined facebook I thought I'd teach him a lesson in security.

Our waitresses name was unusual (it was on badge pinned to her) so I put it into FB and the town where we were. So, within 15 minutes I had learned
• What her full name was
• She lives with 1 other girl (who was also working in the same restaurant)
• What her house looks like
o And the house number
o It's a small town, I know it well. Took 2 minutes on Google streetview to locate the actual house
o Drove past it on the way home, yep, got the right one
• What shifts they work together (for example, neither was home one day over the weekend between 4pm and midnight)
• Their landlord hasn't fixed the alarm despite multiple requests
• basically I've got her life story from the age of 14 to now. She's 22. I know her birthday.

Jeepers, now I'm never going to do anything to harm them but how lapse can you be about security? I thought millennials were supposed to be a bit more switched on than this.

I'd call by and point it out to her, but that might make me look a little creepy . . . . . Well, a little bit more creepy than I already look.

#1 son was suitably shocked and reviewed his FB settings immediately.

[GrandOiseau]

Interesting one. A few thoughts.

#1 - How much of this info could be discovered without the use of FB?

#2 - What is unique about this information?

#3 - What could be done with it?

Not that I am saying you haven't raised something to think about.

[Slarti]

Good on you. FWIW I never use my real DOB or home town on social media. Sadly, alas, just about everything you need to know can be found out about me on companies house's website. Not a great idea, but not a lot I can do about it, I don't think.

Annoyed the hell out of me when Co Ho put all my details on the Beta site, FOC for any Tom Dick or Harry to see and use.
We had 3 instance of attempted identity theft within 3 weeks of that. Coincidence?

Slarti

[Slarti]

#3 - What could be done with it?

Well it said when the house would be empty and that the alarm was broken, which would be of interest to certain types of people.

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

Good old Facebook. You waste half your life on desperately checking up on what your friends had for dessert last night, and what their fave bands are and why their dogs have been vomiting recently, and then a complete stranger can buzz your data and find out everything there is to know about you. Including when you're going to be out of town.

Both my daughters have had money stolen from them as a result of Facebookers stealing their information. And it's not just that. If you're up for a job interview or a US business visa, or even just a promotion, you probably need to allow for the chance that somebody somewhere will be checking your record for black marks on your character.

One of the many reasons why I don't do social media at all. OK, I lied just now - I have a Twitter account, mandated by my work, which has seen two posts in eight years (one of which was a test) - but which has still managed to attract about 300 followers. I also have a LinkedIn account which gets the occasional PM from somebody I know but which has no other function.

Mind you, there are other, simpler ways of finding stuff out. A few years ago, I was asked to work with a mysterious "fund manager" who was using an obviously false name, and so I googled his mobile phone number to try and find out a bit more about him. He was in an open prison in Kent, serving seven years for defrauding pensioners, and barred for life from all financial services activity. This discovery lark can work both ways.

BJ

[PinkDalek]

Good on you. FWIW I never use my real DOB or home town on social media. Sadly, alas, just about everything you need to know can be found out about me on companies house's website. Not a great idea, but not a lot I can do about it, I don't think.

Annoyed the hell out of me when Co Ho put all my details on the Beta site, FOC for any Tom Dick or Harry to see and use.
We had 3 instance of attempted identity theft within 3 weeks of that. Coincidence?

Slarti

It may have been a coincidence but I remember we discussed this back on TMF. I wasn't happy that my "wet" signature from way back in now available to all and sundry, as well as address and full date of birth etc. I was told on TMF that the signature would be on all cheques I've ever written but that was not the point.

[Slarti]

Good on you. FWIW I never use my real DOB or home town on social media. Sadly, alas, just about everything you need to know can be found out about me on companies house's website. Not a great idea, but not a lot I can do about it, I don't think.

Annoyed the hell out of me when Co Ho put all my details on the Beta site, FOC for any Tom Dick or Harry to see and use.
We had 3 instance of attempted identity theft within 3 weeks of that. Coincidence?

Slarti

It may have been a coincidence but I remember we discussed this back on TMF. I wasn't happy that my "wet" signature from way back in now available to all and sundry, as well as address and full date of birth etc. I was told on TMF that the signature would be on all cheques I've ever written but that was not the point.

Yeah, but that is the signature on my cheques, which is no the same as the one on contracts and official papers. I've always had a "cheque" signature since I first got a bank account in the 60s, on the advice of the Co-op bank manager when I opened the account.

Now my "official" signature is available to all and sundry.

Slarti

[UncleEbenezer]

Hate to disappoint, but that kind of information isn't new with Facebook. Easier than ever to find for the casual ogler like you, but a serious stalker has no need of it.

We have a problem with identity theft not because of facebook, but because institutions give far too much value to information that is widely available. See discussion in viewtopic.php?f=26&t=12247 .

[GrandOiseau]

#3 - What could be done with it?

Well it said when the house would be empty and that the alarm was broken, which would be of interest to certain types of people.

It's not hard to ascertain if a property is empty though. People post about going for a night out or going on holiday all the time. I agree that the alarm being broken helps. But again this is something people often discuss in public places, which FB in essence is. I agree warning your kids, or indeed anyone else for that matter, about the potential dangers of social media is a good thing.

[formoverfunction]

Ever considered Diaspora* as an FB alternative, they dont require a mobile number to create an account, they arecommunity controlled, rip any geo data from pictures you upload and accept aliases? They don't even enforce age or gender information.

It's a bit like the old days of the net, but for me that's the attraction, alongside the privacy.

FB were also putting my profile into the long grass, because I actively used a single browser for them, no history besides them and youtube!

They really disliked me using a VPN and described it as "suspicious" activity, neither did they like my Proton email account.

At the end of the day its utility v privacy, for me I always found they got more value than I did. The liberterian in my didn't like that

Diaspora taked some getting used to, but it's bulit to protect your privacy, it can be a bit of an expereince, just like the early days of te net.

[formoverfunction]

- eating hot jacket potatoes and typing makes poor typing.

[nimnarb]

You are asking for trouble having any accounts on social media if you value your privacy regardless if you feel that you are squeaky clean and have nothing to hide. Had a business account once on Facebook and it may have done me some good, but personal details, No.

I have a computer geek who keeps my system running smoothly and I asked him why he has a piece of paper over his front camera on his iPhone. Now what has he been up to I thought? What he told me was worrying. So I have done the same regardless. Paranoid? Perhaps. Safe,(safer) possibly. Don't know enough about this, but apparently the dark web(and I have no idea what this really is and don't want to but can only imagine).

p.s. I did ride the shares up(FB) from 152 to 201 recently over three months and sold out. It appears that privacy issues and the last debacle they had is of no concern to many..onwards and upwards for the Company.

[Slarti]

You are asking for trouble having any accounts on social media if you value your privacy regardless if you feel that you are squeaky clean and have nothing to hide. Had a business account once on Facebook and it may have done me some good, but personal details, No.

I have a computer geek who keeps my system running smoothly and I asked him why he has a piece of paper over his front camera on his iPhone. Now what has he been up to I thought? What he told me was worrying. So I have done the same regardless. Paranoid? Perhaps. Safe,(safer) possibly. Don't know enough about this, but apparently the dark web(and I have no idea what this really is and don't want to but can only imagine).

p.s. I did ride the shares up(FB) from 152 to 201 recently over three months and sold out. It appears that privacy issues and the last debacle they had is of no concern to many..onwards and upwards for the Company.

Well it would be hard to link my account here to my one on Twitter or my ex account on Linkedin (which finally doesn't come up in searches) as I have made an effort to keep all their details different. Plus,I have a very common name. There are loads of people with a level of fame with the same name as me.

As for front cameras, both the one on my laptop and the one on my phone are covered and have been for years.

Slarti

[GoSeigen]

- eating hot jacket potatoes and typing makes poor typing.

That's what the edit button is for


GS

[bungeejumper]

A few years ago, I was asked to work with a mysterious "fund manager" who was using an obviously false name, and so I googled his mobile phone number to try and find out a bit more about him. He was in an open prison in Kent, serving seven years for defrauding pensioners, and barred for life from all financial services activity. This discovery lark can work both ways.

Silly me, I forgot my best ever phone look-up. We'd been approached by a funds outfit that were pushing a pretty dodgy-looking EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme), that seemed to fall well short of what the regulator normally expects. It was essentially a dirty great tax loophole that revolved around forward-lossing film distribution revenues - the kind of stuff that footballers and well-known comedians were very keen on at one time.

Anyway, the big boss man of this £15 million "operation" was only ever available on his mobile number, and as far as we could tell he migrated weekly between California and Switzerland. The company itself was no more than a letterbox address in London, but it had one UK staffer, the marketing director.

So when I googled his guy's mobile number, I wasn't particularly surprised to find that he'd only been in the job for a month, and that his previous job had been running an iffy business in Canary Wharf that had sold carbon credits (remember those?). And which had been shut down by the regulator before it had even properly started up.

And before that? My cheery friend had been a porn film actor. And that, apparently, had been his "relevant experience" in the film industry.

Dammit, even bad plumbers change their mobile numbers at regular intervals. But this one was still using the same number to promote a £15 million fund. How stupid would you have to be to hang onto the same number when you'd got that little lot in your past?

Bit of a prick, really. As you might say.

BJ

[GrandOiseau]

Use Strava, wear a fitbit, use a mobile phone? Read on...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... ty-privacy