When Kamesh D (name changed) received a phone call from a friend asking him if he was in trouble, he was mildly surprised. The surprise turned to alarm as he learnt that his friend had received a message on Facebook, saying that he had been robbed of his mobile and money while holidaying in Paris and updating Facebook courtesy of a stranger, and asking for money to be sent to a strange account.
Kamesh was lucky. He was able to logon to Facebook, change his password and update his status, asking his friends to ignore any requests for money. Kamesh had become, for a brief period of time, a victim of the 419 scam - updated for the Facebook age.
Read: 9 random things people do on Facebook
In 1995, there were 16 million users of the internet. It took another 10 years for the number of users to hit 900 million. Facebook had a million users, in 2004, its year of incorporation. In 2006, it had 16 million users. As of April this year, the social networking site had hit 901 million users around the world, doing in six years what had taken the entire Internet a decade.
Where there are crowds, there are criminals. And it's not surprising that Facebook attracts a whole new breed of scamsters. Their objectives remain the same -- it's either money, personal information or redirection to shady schemes or page hits.
In 2009, a woman named Leanne Saylor took a Facebook quiz. You know the type "Which Star Wars character are you most like?" or "Which celebrity are you?" There are thousands of these on Facebook. Saylor took an online IQ test. On completion, she was asked to enter her mobile phone number to receive the results on her phone. She got the results - and she also got subscribed to three mobile text messaging services that ended up with an additional $44 (Rs. 2,434) on her mobile bill.
Kamesh was lucky. He was able to logon to Facebook, change his password and update his status, asking his friends to ignore any requests for money. Kamesh had become, for a brief period of time, a victim of the 419 scam - updated for the Facebook age.
Read: 9 random things people do on Facebook
In 1995, there were 16 million users of the internet. It took another 10 years for the number of users to hit 900 million. Facebook had a million users, in 2004, its year of incorporation. In 2006, it had 16 million users. As of April this year, the social networking site had hit 901 million users around the world, doing in six years what had taken the entire Internet a decade.
Where there are crowds, there are criminals. And it's not surprising that Facebook attracts a whole new breed of scamsters. Their objectives remain the same -- it's either money, personal information or redirection to shady schemes or page hits.
In 2009, a woman named Leanne Saylor took a Facebook quiz. You know the type "Which Star Wars character are you most like?" or "Which celebrity are you?" There are thousands of these on Facebook. Saylor took an online IQ test. On completion, she was asked to enter her mobile phone number to receive the results on her phone. She got the results - and she also got subscribed to three mobile text messaging services that ended up with an additional $44 (Rs. 2,434) on her mobile bill.
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