Facebook & Burglers

[Minus]

"Users of social networking sites such as Facebook are giving away vital information that is potentially being used by professional burglars to establish a list of targets. This is according to a recent report from UK insurer, Legal and General, which revealed that nearly 40% of Facebook users posted details of their vacation plans and by doing so, announced when their homes would be empty.

The research also found that users are putting their security at risk by being willing to be friends with people that they don't really know. Nearly half of those surveyed will accept a friend invitation from complete strangers because the person has a nice picture. Other trouble spots concern the posting of addresses (Over 15% of users reported seeing others' residential addresses posted on pages that are accessible to strangers.) and revealing the contents of your home (Almost 70% of users think that social media sites are a great place to share photos of their cool new purchases and presents.).

Burglars can use social networking sites to develop relationships with people, learn what they may own, and find out when they are likely to be away from home. To reduce your odds of becoming a victim, experts suggest the following:

* Be particularly careful if you are a new user of Facebook and want to quickly build up your network. Don't let this goal get in the way of good judgment when it comes to friend requests.

* When you get a friend request, check to make sure the person is actually a friend of someone you know personally.

* Think twice about posting dates of your upcoming trips.

* Consider the contents of photos that you post. Do they show valuables in your home?

* Be sure to activate the site's privacy features."

Facebook can also help catch burglers

Burglar leaves his Facebook page on victim’s computer

MARTINSBURG - The popular online social networking site Facebook helped lead to an alleged burglar's arrest after he stopped check his account on the victim's computer, but forgot to log out before leaving the home with two diamond rings.

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/525232.html

 

[Punisher]

Lol, a retarded burglar

BTW, thanks for the info

 

[Punisher]

Instead of making a new thread I'll just post this article here.

Girl of 17 Lured to Her Death by Facebook Predator

KOMPAS.com - A predator on the Sex Offenders' Register killed a 17-year-old girl he met and groomed on Facebook after luring her to a secret meeting. The 32-year-old posed as a 16-year-old boy to befriend Ashleigh Hall on the social networking site.

But within hours of their first meeting, the teenager was dead. The man is said to have bound and gagged her, and thrown her into the back of his car. Hours later he dumped her body in a ditch by a country lane.

Last night he was being quizzed on suspicion of murder. At the police station he dramatically confessed: 'I've killed a girl', before leading them to the body.

The killing raises serious questions over how effectively the known sex offender was being monitored. As a registered sex attacker he was required to inform police of any change of address.

Checks carried out after his arrest, however, revealed he had moved from his registered home without notifying the authorities. Ashleigh, who was studying childcare at Darlington College, left her house at 7pm on Sunday, telling her mother she was going to stay at a friend's house and would be back the following afternoon.

When she failed to return her mother repeatedly rang her mobile phone but there was no reply.
On Monday evening at 5.40pm, traffic officers, alerted by their onboard computer, pulled over a Ford Mondeo being driven without any insurance on the A177 in County Durham.

They arrested the driver on suspicion of motoring offences and took him to Middlesbrough police station. He was then booked in and taken to a cell.

He told a custody officer: 'I want to tell you something, I want to speak to a detective.'

The man then told officers that he had killed a girl. He claimed she had suffocated after he gagged her and insisted it was an accident. He offered to take them to the lane where he had dumped her body in Sedgefield

He took them to the place where he said he had flung the body on a road known locally as lovers' lane. Ashleigh's body was discovered at around 10.30pm.

After the body was found the man was taken to Darlington Police station where he underwent a medical examination, though detectives would not reveal if he had sustained any injuries either before, during or after the girl's death. Nor would they confirm how the girl had died or whether she had been sexually assaulted.

The man gave detectives two names - one believed to be an alias - but officers are convinced they know who he is and have taken his fingerprints to establish his identity beyond doubt.

The man, who had a shaved head, is believed to have links with Merseyside and Stockton-on-Tees. Police sources said he had previous convictions for sex attacks on young women and was a registered sex offender.

It is not known, however, if he was being monitored by Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements, an agency set up to keep a close eye on dangerous sex offenders. The girl's body was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital where a post-mortem examination was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist.

Forensic officers yesterday continued to examine the scene just yards from a Little Chef restaurant and Travelodge hotel. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Harker said the body of the girl, who had not been reported missing, could have been there for up to 24 hours.

The car was also undergoing a forensic examination. DCI Harker said that the girl's family had since looked on her computer and discovered conversations with an unknown man.

It is not known if that is the same man police now have in custody. Friends said she had met the man online and that he had claimed to be 16.

Danny Fisher, 17, from Darlington, who went to college with Ashleigh, said: 'She was always really popular.

'I heard that she had been talking with a man on Facebook. He told her he was 16, but obviously it looks like that was a lie.'

Ashleigh, who had four sisters, left Hurworth School in Darlington last year after completing her GCSEs.

The school's headmaster Eamonn Farrar said: 'I'm absolutely stunned. I heard it on the news and thought it couldn't be our Ashleigh, but then the news came through to my colleague. I just can't believe it.

'We will try to remember Ashleigh not in terms of her passing, but as a student at Hurworth, and one we were all fond of.

On the dangers of forging relationships on the internet, he added: 'This shouldn't happen to anybody.

'We need to have a look at it and find out why it's happened and try to make sure that no one else becomes a victim of this kind of incident.'

The man was driving a dark blue Ford Mondeo, registration S148 JNK. Officers are appealing for help to establish its movements from 7pm on Sunday evening until the arrest at 5.40 pm on Monday.

http://english.kompas.com/read/xml/...of.17.Lured.to.Her.Death.by.Facebook.Predator

 

[Jesse]

Punisher that makes me so angry! What is wrong with the world today? I just heard on the radio that a 15 year old girl in california was beaten and raped by multiple suspects outside of her homecoming dance. What's even more disturbing is that a suspected 12 people stood by and watched it happen and didn't do anything about it or to report it over a 2 hour period.

Can you believe this!?!?! This world is sick. I think every person who stood there and watched should be prosecuted and all those involved need to be killed. Guess what else? Alcohol was involved. Yes, killer alcohol. How can it be that such a dangerous drug is legal, yet marijuana is not? How many deaths per year do you hear about because of weed? Now how many because alcohol was involved?

Thanks Minus for the info about burglars. I'll definately be careful.

 

[Punisher]

We live in a disgusting world.

 

[Minus]

This link is from another thread.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/16/20091121/ttc-insurers-using-facebook-to-investiga-6315470.html

"Manulife has confirmed to CBC News that it uses Facebook to investigate clients."

and

"Facebook has already proved its use to human resource departments wanting to investigate potential new staff. Senior managers have also been found to use Facebook to check up on employees."

I little unsettling since it seems about as reliable as using comic books.

Also there can be a problem with people getting into your account and playing around, as this poor lady found out when someone got into her account and posted as her, about some fake encounter with an imaginary Micheal.