Oversharing and Fraud go Hand-in-Hand on Instagram
Instagram is a playground for the rich and famous to snap extravagant shots of their latest new purchase, whether it's a Marc Jacobs handbag or a private yacht. The problem with sharing your wealth as such is that it can be used against their families in litigation cases, as well as giving fraudsters the chance to see how much money you actually have and when you'll be out of touch.
In a way this is a good thing for financial investigators. People seem to forget that if you don't want people to know how much you really have, you can't share it all online. Even if the investigating authorities don't obviously follow you or your parents/partner who may be in trouble, they can still find your account and gather evidence from your posts. Leading cyber security firms confirm that they actually get evidence from social media for about 75% of their cases. Celebrities, as famous as they are, also face this issue, as has been proven by 50 Cent being questioned on his recent photo on Instagram. The photo he was asked about in court (see above) featured him sitting next a pile of money that had been organized to spell out the word 'broke'. Most people would ask, how can he be broke if he can afford to do that with $100 bills? He claimed that the money was fake bills used for music videos; we can't confirm or deny that.
It's a slippery slope and one that could be easily avoided. People could simply be honest about what they have and what they earn but that's not going to happen. People with all sorts of incomes lie on social media and to the government about what they have and what they need. This just proves that. People are pretty foolish when it comes to this sort of thing so it's unsurprising that they'll get caught out. This social media proof they find usually comes from their children's accounts, the people who aren't going to think twice about it as they're not in trouble and they want to share what they have. It's a sad truth but this is the least of the problems this trend of sharing everything is causing.
Families and businesses are being defrauded due to what is being posted online. One example was a young woman who went on holiday only for a fraudster to create fake receipts for private jets, villas and expensive shopping trips and sent them to the woman's family business. They paid out the money for all of this and she didn't realise anything was wrong until they called her as the Father was unhappy she was spending too much. It seems ridiculous but these people are smart and know how to play this game.
The only way to prevent things like this from happening are being smart with what you post. Don't try and defraud people and don't post anything that people can use against you. Because if you're lucky you'll be in trouble over a litigation case or at worst someone could be stealing your money.
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| The Guardian |
In a way this is a good thing for financial investigators. People seem to forget that if you don't want people to know how much you really have, you can't share it all online. Even if the investigating authorities don't obviously follow you or your parents/partner who may be in trouble, they can still find your account and gather evidence from your posts. Leading cyber security firms confirm that they actually get evidence from social media for about 75% of their cases. Celebrities, as famous as they are, also face this issue, as has been proven by 50 Cent being questioned on his recent photo on Instagram. The photo he was asked about in court (see above) featured him sitting next a pile of money that had been organized to spell out the word 'broke'. Most people would ask, how can he be broke if he can afford to do that with $100 bills? He claimed that the money was fake bills used for music videos; we can't confirm or deny that.
It's a slippery slope and one that could be easily avoided. People could simply be honest about what they have and what they earn but that's not going to happen. People with all sorts of incomes lie on social media and to the government about what they have and what they need. This just proves that. People are pretty foolish when it comes to this sort of thing so it's unsurprising that they'll get caught out. This social media proof they find usually comes from their children's accounts, the people who aren't going to think twice about it as they're not in trouble and they want to share what they have. It's a sad truth but this is the least of the problems this trend of sharing everything is causing.
Families and businesses are being defrauded due to what is being posted online. One example was a young woman who went on holiday only for a fraudster to create fake receipts for private jets, villas and expensive shopping trips and sent them to the woman's family business. They paid out the money for all of this and she didn't realise anything was wrong until they called her as the Father was unhappy she was spending too much. It seems ridiculous but these people are smart and know how to play this game.
The only way to prevent things like this from happening are being smart with what you post. Don't try and defraud people and don't post anything that people can use against you. Because if you're lucky you'll be in trouble over a litigation case or at worst someone could be stealing your money.
Rosina is a Songbird rookie with a degree in Creative Writing. She's trying to focus on her novel on the side but is hoping that Content Writing will turn out to be a good career choice in the mean time! Follow her @Songbird_Rosina
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Oversharing and Fraud go Hand-in-Hand on Instagram
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Rating:
Unknown
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