Criminals look to social networking websites to find prospective victims
Stephanie Stough
-Managing Editor-
People work for their things. They work to enjoy vacations, have electronics and make a lifestyle for themselves. These people, who correlate their social lives with their lives on the Internet, whether they are aware of it or not, are making themselves prospective victims of a new rising crime; a crime that may take these personal and most of the time, very expensive belongings out of their homes simply because they updated their Internet status.
Burglary rash nationwide
In September, there was a rash of at least 50 burglaries in N.H. Police confirmed that the thieves were using Facebook and Twitter updates to figure out when their victims were going to be out of the house, stealing about $20,000 worth of goods, according to NECN, a Boston News Network. Facebook users Keri McMullen and Matt Chapman both were made victims of this type of rising crime after posting their weekend plans via the web, according to a report from ABC. McMullen was even victimized by someone she used to know.
17,000 friends of friends
On Facebook, there are at least 364 people registered to the “St. Louis CC” network and the average Facebook user has about 130 friends. Based on individual privacy settings, the average Facebook user’s page that belongs to the STLCC network can not only be seen by these 364 people, but also by 16,900 of their “friends of friends.”
Becoming vulnerable
Making personal information available to such a large amount of people, Sarah Elhoffer, criminal justice professor at STLCC-Meramec, explained can make people vulnerable to these kinds of crimes. Social network related crimes can be committed by those who are least expected to.
“Anyone is capable of committing these types of crimes. It’s just a matter of who is motivated enough to put forth the effort,” Elhoffer said.
Facebook has over 500 million users and Twitter has just about 75 million tweeters.
In a world where status updates can spread from someone’s fingertips to around the world in a manner of seconds, social networkers are advised to take precautions to what personal information they are posting and who can see it.
Richard Wright, Ph.D., professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri- St. Louis and author of “Burglars on the Job: Street life and Residential Break-Ins” explained that exposing such personal information, as such location and time put people at extreme risks.
“Obviously sharing any kind of contact information like where you are and where you’re going to be or anything like that absolutely put you at risk. Anytime you let people know where you will be or won’t be, you’re putting yourself at risk,” Wright said.
Technology, crime evolve
Over time, the techniques of criminals have changed to adjust with the increasing amount of information that is easily available to the public. Chief Paul Banta, police chief at Meramec, said that in the 1930s, criminals would steal from people of high society after the realization many may make routine trips to the theater.
They became so frequent that these crimes were dubbed “theater burglaries.”
Since then, burglars have scoped the obituaries for homes that may be vacant during a funeral and more recently are studying their victims from behind the computer screen.
“When people know you’re not at home, as in the old obituary burglaries, they would go to the house when they knew it was vacant. I can see Facebook and some of the other networking sites being similar to that because if you announce you’re going to be on vacation, at a funeral, at work a certain time and any type of information that puts you anywhere but your home, it makes your home vulnerable to someone being in there while you’re gone,” Banta said.
Routines: a necessity for criminals
Thieves and burglars throughout history have always been in search for more information about their victims. Wright explained that making schedules public on the Internet gives thieves exactly what they are looking for.
“Criminals want to know people’s routines. They pretty much know all houses have the same kinds of things in it so what they really want to know is when people are home or not. They are just trying to figure out people’s routines. Most people are looking for cash, weapons, pharmaceutical drugs, illegal drugs and anything else they can benefit from,” Wright said.
Elhoffer explains that people who want to burglarize homes are looking for anything for which they can get quick cash.
“They look for an easy target. Generally people who use Twitter and Facebook as a tool to find their victims they are looking for quick easy products they can take on the street. They are looking for cash, electronics, cars, things that are easy to get rid of and easy to sell for cash,” Elhoffer said.
“Check-Ins” publicly
announce location
Burglars strive to know when their victims will be and more importantly, where they won’t be so they can plan when to strike. The new tools that are becoming popular to Twitter and Facebook users can be a vital resource crooks use to find out the location of their prospective victims.
Foursquare, a Twitter application, allows people to “check in” to where they are located through the GPS on their phone. When someone checks into a location, it shows up on their Twitter page and shows up on their followers’ feeds. The location is presented in a link; when clicked a window opens with a map of the location, how to get directions and how many times the person has “checked-in” to this location. Facebook’s competitor application, “Places,” like Foursquare, lets users announce their location with their smart phones, containing a link with a map and when and how many times they’ve checked in.
A personal feeling
medium
As social networking’s popularity continues to rise, some may wonder why people are choosing to post so much information about their lives, in some cases very personal and miniscule details about their day.
Wright explains that it may be due to the nature of the social networking.
“The medium itself is a personal feeling medium, we all know that. The very medium itself feels personal; it kind of seduces people into over sharing. Part of it is the seductive nature of the medium and of course people are doing it because it’s the popular thing to do,” Wright said. “It’s about being part of a network; people want to feel like they have somewhere to belong. It’s an alternative world.”
Amanda White, Ph.D. and assistant professor of sociology, explains that she believes that people are making a turn towards becoming more self-centered in regards to publishing their everyday plans, without necessarily worrying about the audience or the repercussions.
“I think in our individualistic society we really think that what we are doing at this exact moment is of interest to others. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it really isn’t. I think that most people don’t assume that information they post can be used against them in a negative way. With recent events, for example, crimes committed using information on Facebook and identity theft or burglary, however, people may want to reconsider what they post,” White said.
Prevention tips
There are several steps social networkers can do to prevent themselves from being a potential victim of Internet-linked crimes. First off, it will probably be most effective if personal information and the profile itself were kept private.
“If you are going to live your life on the Internet, be aware of what you’re posting and who might see it. Make it private so just your friends can see [the profile],” Elhoffer said.
For those users who don’t necessarily want to keep from disclosing personal information may need to pay attention to whom exactly has access to their page.
“I’m not sure there’s an issue of sharing too much information, but rather an issue of sharing certain information that the wrong people can gain access. Keeping that in mind, we should be concerned with what information we are making available and to whom,” White said.
To completely avoid being a victim of Internet related crimes, Wright explains, simply just don’t expose information to those who don’t have to know.
“The best way to avoid oversharing information and victimization is to not disclose information to people who have no real need to know it,” said Wright.
