The Dark Side Of Facebook Exposed
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – While Facebook can be fun, it also has a darker side that could put users at risk of losing money, their reputation and even friendships.
Copycats are pretending to be users in what is now called Facebook cloning.
"It's kind of creepy," said Joe Giacalone who said someone stole his Facebook page.
WATCH Brian Andrews' report, click here.
He said they made an exact copy of it and posed as him. Giacalone had no idea.
"It's not a good feeling when you think that you've been had," said Giacalone.
He only found out when the imposter tried to scam one of his Facebook friends by asking him for money.
"It was embarrassing," said Giacalone.
And he is not the only victim.
With just a few clicks of a mouse, cyber criminals create a duplicate user. They have access to users Facebook friends and then can do anything pretending to be that person unless a friend catches on.
" I knew this was not Joe Giacalone," said his friend Joe Wolf.
It was Wolf who questioned whether it was really his friend who contacted him.
"That immediately set off bells," said Wolf.
He alerted the real Giacalone who was shocked by what he found.
"When I clicked on it, I saw my face. I saw my cover page. It was me for all intents and purposes.It was me," said Giacalone.
He contacted Facebook and they deleted the phony profile.
With 1.5 billion accounts worldwide, there's no shortage of potential targets.
"I never thought it would happen on Facebook," said Giacalone.
It happened to Zona Koopman too.
She thought she was communicating with a friend, but it turned out to be somebody pretending to be her friend.
"We chit chatted back and forth for several messages," said Koopman.
But then she said the copycat tried to scam her.
"I said on the message, 'well, I know you're a fraud and I'm going to report you,'" said Koopman.
Facebook allows users to restrict who can and cannot have access to their page but many don't choose settings that offer enough protection.
Experts said that's a mistake.
Now Giacalone is limiting access and he's relieved it's before it's too late.
"Nobody had their reputation ruined. Nobody had any money taken from them so this is an opportunity where I can start changing my online behavior," said Giacalone.
While many love to post, there are some things that should remain private like your complete birthday, if you're home alone, and pictures of your kids with their names tagged.
If privacy is important then remember, whatever you put out there, isn't private anymore.
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