A colleague of mine has had his bank account emptied recently. He was able to recover some of it thanks to contacts, but others may not be so lucky.
Remember: once you post information of the internet, it may not be possible to recover it.
Even if you subsequently delete it, users all over the world could still have saved it to their systems, making recovery impossible (effectively). The rule of thumb, when disclosing personal stuff (your name, telephone number, date of birth, anything else), don't if at all possible. Fill in required fields, and if it's not an important site, don't put in accurate information. Also be careful what you throwaway.
Here's another contemporary example from The Times.co.za:
Alex Jay’s nightmare on Facebook
Melody Brandon
Published:Oct 18, 2007
Identity thief swears at his fans, claims he’s a pervert.
Alarm Bells have once again been sounded about identity theft on social networking sites.
According to new-media lawyer Paul Jacobson, people placing personal information on a social website should be aware of the risks — which include having their identity stolen.
DJ Alex Jay found himself in a predicament on the social networking site Facebook after being profiled by an unknown person.
The rest of this The Times article click here.
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