Hackers and ordinary citizens alike have been using social networking websites for fraudulent purposes. TeleSign’s Phone Verification solutions can help put an end to this.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, many Facebook users logged on to find a message in their inbox from a friend instructing them to check out a URL which looked suspicious and phony to most people, but to others who followed the URL, it proved to be dangerous. The URL led to a page that mirrored Facebook’s login page and asked for the Facebook login information. Some unsuspecting users entered this information which was then stolen by hackers in a process called “phishing”. Once the login information was stolen, the hackers immediately changed the login password of an individual’s Facebook and then sent out the phishing URL’s to friends of the hacked account. And so it spread throughout Facebook taking advantage of misused login information.

MySpace has also had security issues of their own recently. The Lori Drew case has drawn significant negative publicity to MySpace and although it is an extreme case, it shows the need for better security procedures involving the MySpace registration process. Lori Drew is a mother from Missouri who created a fake MySpace profile and used this persona to “cyber-bully” her daughter’s rival from school to the extent that the girl hanged herself. An incident this extreme is rare, but the issue of fake MySpace profiles is one that is much more common.

An individual essentially has unlimited access to creating email accounts, and in turn can create several different MySpace and/or Facebook profiles/persona’s. This freedom to create multiple and often fake social networking profiles can lead to dangerous outcomes especially related to fraud. TeleSign’s Phone Verification solutions, although not the cure-all solution, can significantly reduce the number of fraudulent and fake social networking profiles. TeleSign’s solutions allow Internet-based companies to verify and authenticate their users using one of the simplest, most widely-deployed pieces of technology available: the telephone. TeleSign’s Phone Verification Solution delivers an automated outbound call with a PIN code to the end user that is then entered online to authenticate a new profile. For a demo of TeleSign’s Phone Verification visit TeleSign.com. Because telephone numbers are traceable, users who plan to do  harm on social networking sites won’t be willing to take the step of getting verified by telephone. Plus, the legitimate users on these sites will appreciate the added security of phone verification.

For more about this phone verification Internet security layer solution, call us now at 800-850-3485 and speak to a phone verification Internet security layer representative.