Social networking could open consumers up to fraud and debt problems
Social networking could open consumers up to fraud and debt problems
- Friday, 18 June 2010Consumers can reveal information on social networking sites that could increase the risk of them becoming a victim of bank fraud, which may lead to
debt problems.
If an account goes over its overdraft limit, banks charge the holder and these charges and interest could cause a consumer to fall into
debt problems.
According to Robert Schifreen, an IT expert, people can give too much information away online and opportunists can use this to commit bank fraud.
He said: "It's very easy to guess somebody's password after finding information about them by looking online, on these sorts of networking sites, and that's one of the things that fraudsters do."
Another potential risk is spam emails, which can be difficult to trace and makes it harder to prove that bank fraud has been committed.
According to CPP, provider of life assistance products and services, consumers receive a combined 42,000 scam emails every hour.
A quarter of people have been the victims of e-fraudsters. Men lose on average £327 and women lose £246, claims the firm.

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