FBI warns of social site fraud schemes

WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- A top FBI official told a U.S. House panel Wednesday social networking sites give online criminals a new way to find victims.

Speaking to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, Assistant Director Gordon Snow said he acknowledged "that the rapid expansion of the Internet has allowed us to learn, to communicate and to conduct business in ways that were unimaginable 20 years ago."

However, he warned in prepared remarks, "the same technology, to include the surge in the use of social networking sites over the past two years, has given cyber-thieves and child predators new, highly effective avenues to take advantage of unsuspecting users. These cyber-criminals are using a variety of schemes to defraud or victimize innocent social networking site users."

He added, "Users continue to be fooled online by persons claiming to be somebody else. Unlike the physical world, individuals can misrepresent everything about themselves while they communicate online."

Snow said besides identity theft, predators routinely use social networking sites to locate children and communicate with future victims and other pedophiles.

Phishing attacks -- attempts to acquire sensitive information -- "on social networking site users come in various formats, including: messages within the social networking site either from strangers or compromised friend accounts; links or videos within a social networking site profile claiming to lead to something harmless that turns out to be harmful, or e-mails sent to users claiming to be from the social networking site itself."