While doing my regular browsing and research today, I came across an extremely stupid use of Facebook groups.  Due to todays need to always be connected, most cell phone users keep an extensive list of contacts in their mobile address books.  Well, what I found today was that many Facebook users are loosing their cell phones and are utilizing Facebook groups to desperately repopulate those address books once they obtain a new cell phone.

What seems to be happening with these groups is that the user who lost their phone creates a new Facebook group entitled “User’s Lost Phone”.  Once the group is created the user then sends a notice to all of their Facebook friends letting them know about the lost phone and subsequent data loss.  In this message the user also asks them to join the new group and post their phone number so the address book data can be rebuilt.  All the Facebook friends then try to help the user out by accommodating the users request.  At this point all of the Facebook friends are all simply happy that they aren’t the poor sap who lost their cell phone.  All of the parties involved then live happily ever after?  right?

Well if they did.. Then I wouldn’t have anything to write about today.

Herein lies the problem with the above situation.  Many times the user who lost their cell phone ends up not setting up the group to be private and inadvertently broadcasts all of their friends phone numbers to the world.  This can easily be seen by doing the following Google search…

As you can see, that simple Google search returned 653,000 public Facebook groups that are about user’s lost phones.  On each and every one of these groups, you can find phone numbers posted by any number of users.  Talk about a stalkers dream eh?  Maybe a bored teenager looking for someone to prank call?  Even worse yet, this could be used by malicious users to get cell numbers to TXT message and run up unsuspecting user’s cell phone bills.  After all many users still do not have TXT messaging plans and pay per message.

Even if the user does mark the group as private you still should not participate by sharing your information.  If a Facebook group is marked as private, that simply means that only the group members can see the information that is posted to the group.  Marking a Facebook group as private does not restrict who can join the group.  So at the very least you are still sending your phone number to everyone who is currently, and who could be in the future, a member of the group.

What to do in this situation
This particular threat is very easy to spot and avoid.  If you happen to see one of your friends create a group  like the ones mentioned here, do not post your contact information to the group.  Instead simply use email or the Facebook “Messages” system to send a private message to the user with your phone number and contact information.  You should also be sure to send them a link to this post to help educate them about their misguided and potentially harmful ways.

If for some unfortunate reason you happen to be the poor soul who has to rebuild your address book, do not use a Facebook group to accomplish this task.  Instead post a message to your wall informing your friends about the situation and ask them to send you the information using a private message.  When doing so also be sure to remind your friends NOT to post their phone number or other contact information in the comments section on your wall.

Spread the knowledge and Browse Safely!
After my last article about a Facebook safety issue got so much attention, I created a new Facebook page on Web Safety to notify users when I write about internet safety issues.  If you would like to be notified about new internet safety articles as they are made available, then become a fan of the Web Safety Facebook page.  Twitter users can also follow me on twitter to receive notifications about new articles and blog postings.

Post Tagged With: Facebook, Web Safety