Facebook was originally launched in February of 2004, available only to the students of Harvard University. has quickly grown into the world’s largest social media site, with over 1.24 billion active accounts worldwide, 968 million of which access the site daily.

Facebook has long been used to share funny videos, music, personal photos and experiences, educational messages, political views, family videos and everything in between. And as well as individual use, Facebook is home to millions of businesses and organisations who utilise the social media platform in order to advertise and distribute their product or service.

However, as I previously discussed, the internet provides an anonymous platform for criminal behaviour, and Facebook is no exception. The large social media is the perfect platform for a variety of crimes; I will discuss the most commonly experienced crimes below.

Scams

Scams have been utilised within the criminal world for centuries. They work by luring the victim in, providing a false sense of security giving them the impression they are getting one over on the company, whilst behind the scenes the criminals are actually taking money from them, unknown to the victim.

On Facebook, scams are varied and disguised as several things. The most common scams are the ‘free giveaway’ and the interactive game. This consists of an advertisement or pop-up announcing a free giveaway of anything from iPads and iPhones to cars and holidays. To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is complete a quick survey or click on the interactive iPad as it flies across the screen. The simplicity of the survey and the ease of the game entice many participants to cooperate and enter details in order to claim their prize. However, once you’ve entered your personal and financial details, instead of receiving your free car, you’ll get big charges instead.

Usually in these scams there is very small print hidden within the terms and conditions that we agree to without reading. Within this document it will usually explain the charges, therefore if you call on the business in an attempt to get your money back, you will struggle as you’ve clicked the box!

Cyberbullying

Cyberbulling is the most common cybercrime amongst teenagers and young people. This typically involves harassing a person with messages, threats and other persistent behaviour which has a detrimental effect on the victim’s safety and general well-being. Although this behaviour may only seem like a minor annoyance or a joke, the offenders may not realise the true damage it can have. It is a legitimate cause for concern, and is taken very seriously by authorities and can result in serious criminal charges if taken too far.

There have been many cases where cyberbullying on facebook has resulted in the suicide, or attempted suicide of the young victims. Shocking statistics reveal that over 20% of children affected by cyberbullying have contemplated suicide, and 1 in 10 have made attempts. 4,500 children commit suicide in America each year, making it the 3^rd most common killer of children and teenagers in 2012.

Research had been conducted using approximately 2,000 randomly selected children aged between 11 and 15 in the United States. It was revealed that those who had experienced cyberbullying were twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to those who had not had this experience. In 2012 another study concluded similar finidngs, revealing that 1 in 10 of the children surveyed had suicidal thoughts as a result of prolonged cyberbullying.

Identity Theft
Identity theft is the act of stealing someone’s personal information and pretending to be that person in order to gain financial benefits using that person’s name without their consent. The personal information stolen can include: name, telephone number, home address, email address, date of birth and bank and credit card details.

With the vast number of personal information stored and shared within Facebook, it has become easier and easier for criminals to access this information and steal the identities of the users. Hackers are able to steal personal images from users’ in order to create false Facebook accounts. From there it is possible to access private and financial information, which can have a hugely detrimental effect to the users sense of security, both financially and personally.

Romance Scam

Similar to identity theft, but a slightly more contemporary and internet based aspect is ‘Catfishing’. The term first came about in 2010 on an MTV reality TV program directed by Nev Shulman. The phrase is used to describe the act of a person developing a false identity on social media in order to seduce an unsuspecting victim.

The scam is described as a ‘confidence trick’, involving a high level of grooming and deception in order to gain the affection and trust of the victim eventually convincing them either to send them money, give them their financial details, or committing further fraud themselves.

This scam has also been used for personal reasons, not resulting in financial gain but in the total humiliation of the victim, therefore it could be considered an aspect of cyberbullying.

Harris, A (2013) Who Coined the Term “Catfish”? Available: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/18/catfish_meaning_and_definition_term_for_online_hoaxes_has_a_surprisingly.html [2 November 2015]

Hinduja, S., and Patchin, J. (2010) Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem. Journal of School Health, vol. 80, 12.

Laird, S. (2012) Cyberbullying: Scourge of the Internet. Available from: http://mashable.com/2012/07/08/cyberbullying-infographic/#mhCE7psJ_Zqh [30 September 2015]

Momoun, F. Facebook Identity Theft Scam. Available: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Facebook-Identity-theft-Scam-97974634.html [30 September 2015]

Smith, C. (2015) By the Numbers: 200+ Amazing Facebook Statistics. Available from: http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-17-amazing-facebook-stats/ [30 September 2015]

Stickland, J. How to Avoid Facebook Scams. Available: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/how-to-avoid-facebook-scams2.htm [30 September 2015]