Editing Internet fraud (section)

== Social media and fraud ==
People tend to disclose more personal information about themselves (e.g. birthday, e-mail, address, hometown and relationship status) in their social networking profiles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hew |first1=Khe Foon |title=Students' and teachers' use of Facebook |journal=Computers in Human Behavior |date=March 2011 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=662–676 |doi=10.1016/j.chb.2010.11.020 }}</ref> This [[personally identifiable information]] could be used by fraudsters to steal users' identities, and posting this information on social media makes it a lot easier for fraudsters to take control of it.

The problem of authenticity in online reviews is a long-standing and stubborn one. In one famous incident back in 2004, Amazon's Canadian site accidentally revealed the true identities of thousands of its previously anonymous U.S. book reviewers. One insight the mistake revealed was that many authors were using fake names in order to give their own books favorable reviews.<ref name=Kugler>{{cite journal |last1=Kugler |first1=Logan |title=Keeping online reviews honest |journal=Communications of the ACM |date=27 October 2014 |volume=57 |issue=11 |pages=20–23 |doi=10.1145/2667111 |s2cid=11898299 }}</ref> Also, 72% say positive reviews lead them to trust a business more, while 88% say that in "the right circumstances", they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.<ref name=Kugler/>

While scammers are increasingly taking advantage of the power of social media to conduct criminal activity, astute risk managers and their insurance companies are also finding ways to leverage social media information as a tool to combat insurance fraud.<ref name=Wilson>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|1881388527}} |last1=Wilson |first1=Brian |title=Using Social Media to Fight Fraud |journal=Risk Management |location=New York |volume=64 |issue=2 |date=Mar 2017 |pages=10–11 }}</ref> For example, an injured worker was out of work on a worker's compensation claim but could not resist playing a contact sport on a local semi-professional sports team. Through social media and internet searches, investigators discovered that the worker was listed on the team roster and was playing very well.<ref name=Wilson/>

A UK woman was scammed in a "romance fraud" online as per the local police. The woman in her 50s reportedly lost her inheritance worth £320,000 taken over from her parents who later disowned her following the loss. The perpetrator who impersonated as  Tim, met the victim on a dating website in 2019 after she lost her husband. He first took £68,000 in the name of customs fees and then asked her to directly pay £200,000 to his translator to secure his contractors and store his equipment, totalling the money lost to £320,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-54613937|title=Woman loses £320,000 in 'romance fraud' scam|work=BBC News |date=20 October 2020 |access-date=20 October 2020}}</ref>