The Striking Amount of Fake Online Profiles in Social Media

Cybercrime has experienced significant progress during recent years, as its advance is directly proportional with the advance of technology. In spite of the fact that the authorities devise new and better strategies to fight cybercrime, the fact that the number of people online is constantly increasing means that cybercrimes occur even more frequently. Dishonest people who seek opportunities have discovered how the internet stands as a perfect environment for them to commit crimes by taking as little risks as possible. Computer fraud generates a series of benefits for the person committing it, as he or she can either profit financially from the enterprise or can simply alter files in order for his or her image to be positively affected. Identity theft is a major form of cybercrime and it is essential for society to acknowledge the gravity of the matter in order to be able to effectively fight against criminals using it.

Every day millions of people log onto social media platforms. There has been much discussion on whether or not individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media platforms. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media. Although cyberbullying is just a small crime, people should still be punished for harsh or hateful remarks on social media. Having freedom of speech is a privilege not a right, we should focus on the bigger stories on cyberbullying, and individuals affected by cyberbullying are affected in all aspects of their life.

One of the most notable was the case involving Lori Drew and MySpace. Lori Drew a 50-year-old mother created a fake online identity to bully her daughter’s rival. She created a fake profile of a non-existent 16-year-old boy names “Josh Evans.” She lured her daughter’s rival named Megan into an online relationship with Josh. Megan had fallen, for Josh and the mother pretending to be Josh told Megan that “he wanted to quit the relationship and that the world would be a better place without her”. Shortly afterwards, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom. There needs to be a development of strategies, for intervention and knowledge in relation to ways in which social network sites facilitate certain kinds of harmful behavior.

It’s no secret, the internet sensation has made many people redundant, however, over the past decade this global phenomenon has seen the birth of over 1.2 million jobs, dawning a new era for humanity. With rapid developments occurring in the design, development and implementation of technological discoveries. Traditional legal principles and processes are constantly challenged by the need to keep pace with new technologies. in particular, identity theft has skyrocketed since the rise of the internet; a 2012 survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed 7% of respondents were directly affected by identity crime in the preceding six months. Identity theft not only affects Australian citizens it’s also a cancer to national security, in order for the government to beat this epidemic it’s imperative that harsher punishments are imposed on cyber criminals.

Some of the most common cyber-crimes are cyberstalking, identity theft, spam and phishing among others. Cyber stalking has been classified as one of prevalent cybercrimes with many internet users falling victims of cyber bullying. Cyber stalkers meet their victims in different ways; mostly they normally have a relationship either in the real world or online world. Cyberstalking starts when this relationship ends. However, strangers who have collected information on the internet can also be cyber stalkers. The desire to control and even harm their victims is what motivates cyber stalkers. They may go to the measures of personifying their victims and post messages or controversial posts on the boards and chat rooms. In this real regard, cyberstalking is a real crime (Mansourabadi, 2014).

Furthermore, prosecuting individuals for statements made on the internet would squander taxpayers’ money. As “The Dangers of Cyber bullying” noted, “Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is sponsoring the Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Prevention Act.” Although some may say that financing the court system for the prosecution of “social media bullies” is necessary, it is proven that will also waste money and time. Surely, individuals should not be penalized for statements made on the internet.

Cyberbullying is a growing global problem due to the aspect of anonymity on social media. Not only does the inability to control social media introduces online harassment, it also reduces the ability to recognize the hate crimes because it is difficult to identify the situation and abuser. Studies show up to 53% of adolescents experience cyberbullying (Chibbaro 65). The opportunities to manipulate false identities and the inability to monitor anonymous users makes one virtually invisible on social media, thus, allows many people to behave in such a way that lacks personal responsibility. The wide social media networks allow for a greater ease for bullies to engage in oppressive conversations at any place and anytime. The number of individuals affected by cyberbullying through the use of social media emphasize social networks as the greatest contributor to violations of laws, such as those about hate crimes,

Internet identity theft is a serious danger in our world today, victims of this crime have had their lives ruined and in some cases have ended up in jail because of crimes committed by an identity thief. Internet identity theft is “the criminal act of fraudulently obtaining the personal information belonging to another individual within the realm of a computer or electronic setting.”(1) Throughout the past several years there have been several laws passed to combat and keep up with this ever evolving crime, those laws include The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, and The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2008. In addition to these, several states have pending legislation out there to either pass new state laws or revise current ones. In this paper, theses laws and the pending legislation in some of those states will be discussed in detail.

As technology evolves daily, offenders of sexual victimization will use this outlet to continue victimization. The internet is easily accessible and is used frequently by numerous people. When one is on the internet they are able to hide behind a computer screen. One way these offenders have used the internet for sexual victimization is creating create fake social media accounts where they pose as someone else. Although social media is intended to be a place to connect with friends and family, some have abused these websites and have become online predators. Offenders can target a victim by first following their profile, commenting on pictures, or statuses, and then began online chatting. Through these messages they can attempt to make false

Identity theft is one of the growing crimes in the United States due to the fact people do not know how to properly protect themselves against it. Criminals use different methods to acquire the information necessary to steal someone’s identity. Some of the techniques used to commit identity theft are; stealing wallets, acquiring bank information or pilfering through trash to find documents containing PII (FBI, n.d.). Nowadays criminals are able to steal people’s identity using different procedures over the internet without having to compromise their identity. Some of the methods are social engineering, phishing, sending spam messages and malware (OLI, 2013). Criminals use these methods because with the use of technology, identity theft could be accomplished anonymously and without much effort. Also because people lower their guard about securing their personally identifiable information when using the internet, especially when using social networks, they become easy targets to

In 2006, Megan Meier, a Missouri teen, committed suicide after a fake account made by an adult male befriended her on Facebook, initiated a relationship, and broke up with her (Hawkins). There are many cases similar to this where people change their identity online to accomplish goals. Megan was involved in a “Catfish” where the befriended profile formed a relationship under a false name. These are possibly the most common crime when it comes to changing your identity. There is even

Only within the past few years have there even been reliable estimates of the incidence of identity theft. “The first thorough survey of the extent of identity theft was conducted for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2003. A similar survey, involving interviews with slightly more than 4,900 randomly selected individuals, was conducted for the commission between March and June 2006” (Anderson, Durbin, & Salinger. ID Theft). Victims of identity theft are commonplace and the resulting monetary losses have been impressive. However, this attention to identity theft is a fairly new phenomenon. With its immense growth, attention and precedence, cyber-criminals are able to infiltrate and depreciate the integral infrastructure of our society which creates a cultural lapse through the declination of economic and cultural growth and double jeopardize an already unstable system to the brink of its destruction. Research has suggested that victims of identity theft spend an average of $1,500 in out-of-pocket expenses and an average of 175 hours per incident of identity theft in order to resolve the many problems caused by identity

Just as there are positive effects of social media, there are also negative effects as well. False connections are often made on SNS. Ninety percent of students have Facebook which is constructed to be socially shared with any user. It may seem obvious that users of social networking cannot stray far from reality from his or her online identity, although the users can depict what he or she wishes to display (Moreno et al. 452). There are many young teenagers on social networking websites posting true personal information, but there are also many young teenagers who false information. In fact, many young users of social networking, especially boys, give false information (Moreno et al. 251). Manipulation can occur in order for young users to join that network. Many times younger users have to lie about his or her age which is not always approved by his or her parents (Moreno et al. 253). A survey was done from children ranging from eight years old to twelve years old to provide the results that those who lied about their age did so within a four year range of their actual age. Thus, they knew they had to use false information, so they provided it with care (Moreno et al. 256). Because of the easiness to create an account falsely, it also makes it simpler to deceive one another. Deception is used to attack another user potentially causing upsetting consequences. The deception taking place online from networking is typically used to mislead others (Tsikerdekis and

For such a long time, physical bullying has been the largest problem schools and parents had to face with their children, but now another form of bullying has arisen; cyber bullying. In society today, teens are drawn cell phones, laptops, and other technological advancements. Social media is a way for many teens and adolescents to interact with one another and share countless happenings of their personal lives. Cyber bullying occurs when individuals use the internet to send or comment cruel and unnecessary messages to another. In its various forms cyber bullying includes, indirect and direct harassment, posting inappropriate pictures, impersonating another being, or just being plain cruel. Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, improper use of the internet can further induce harassment, due to the adolescents desire to use modern day technologies. The harassers could be classmates, online “friends’’, or anonymous users. One barrier that is difficult to overcome is determining who is responsible for the attacks online, because many bullies hide behind fake usernames or profiles to protect their real identity, which is commonly known as “hiding behind a screen”. (Bonanno 2013). The motives for a cyber-bully are never clear, some might say

There are dangers of online communication such as social networks where users can lie about who they are [4]“Megan thought she was being abused by 16-year-old Josh Evans, she was actually talking to Lori Drew, the 49-year-old mother of one of her former friends who, it is alleged, had set up a fake profile to taunt Megan.” in social networking sites it is very easy for people to