The most common social networking sites today include FaceBook, MySpace, LinkdIn, Flickr, and YouTube. Each of these sites has millions of members who log into their accounts on a regular basis to connect with friends near and far. While most people have a lot of fun chatting with others through these sites and consider these interactions safe and convenient, there are actually a lot of dangers that make many unsuspecting users victims every single day.
There are scammers taking advantage of these sites either just to mess around with other people as a source of mischievous fun, or to commit serious crimes that hold devastating consequences for the victims. While you can never be 100% protected from identity theft or other types of Internet crimes, you can avoid most of them by keeping a watchful eye for the tell tale signs of a scam. The following tips will tell you everything you need to know to do just that.

Watch Downloads
There are a lot of fun and entertaining apps available through most social networking sites, especially FaceBook. Any user can use their computer knowledge to create unique applications which are available to all other members for download. Most of these are harmless amusements or even very useful tools, but downloading the wrong one could have devastating consequences.
Scammers are now putting viruses, Trojans, and even spyware and keylogging programs into apps. When users download the app onto their computer, they transfer these dangerous files onto their system. This could lead to small computer glitches and other annoyances, or it could lead to all out identity theft, system crash, or deceptive messages being sent out to everyone on the user’s friends list.
Besides not downloading apps from people you do not know, watch out for messages you’re your friends that request you download files or follow links to other websites. If you are not 100% sure the message really came from that friend, do not click those links!
Often, fake messages that appear to come from someone you know or an email address you are familiar with can be spotted as fake through the language and sound of the text inside the message. For instance, a message that only includes a link with no other explanation or that includes broken English text should be considered a spam right off. If it doesn’t sound like your friend, it probably isn’t!
Logging In and Out

There are three basic rules to follow when it comes to logging in and out of a social networking site:

•    Change your passwords regularly and make sure they are very hard to guess. Never use the same passwords that you use for your email, online banking, and other memberships.
•    If you receive messages asking you to click a link to view someone else’s profile, don’t do it! The profile page you open up is likely to be a fake page designed to get your personal information.
•    If you are ever asked to sign into the site again when you are already logged in, don’t do it! You have likely been diverted to a phishing site and need to immediately exit out of it.
•    Only log into social networking sites after typing in the correct URL and manually going there yourself. Do not follow links that come in an email supposedly from the site. These are likely to be phishing sites as well.
These rules should always be remembered, as there are many scams aimed at getting your log in information. Once the scammers have access to your account, they can contact everyone on you friends list with unwanted advertisements or do much worse and send out devastating viruses.
Guard Your Information/Secure Your Identity
Most people put up some type of personal information on their profile pages. For instances, you can probably go to most of your friend’s pages right now and view their first names, birthdays, and wear they live. Some business related networking sites allow users to post information about their work history and sometimes even their address.
It may seem like innocent information that is of no use to others, but it is of great use to a skilled scammer who wants to steal your identity or sell off your name. Never list this type of personal information on your profile pages. You should also watch the pictures you post since they can be used to create fake identification in your name.
Also, don’t trust the identity of anyone you don’t really know. It is common for strangers to approach you and ask to be your friend, but you should remain guarded against anyone you don’t know in real life or haven’t known in the past. No matter how often they communicate with your or how many flatteries they throw your way, keep your private information and identifying information to yourself.
On a final note, many romance scams are starting at social networking sites these days. If you don’t know someone in real life, do not believe they are who they say they are!

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