The SFO says it has written to around 10 000 users of the sites last week, warning that their details are on a `master list' being circulated by fraudsters. Reports suggest that the master list includes a range of personal information that centres on their name, address, birthday, phone number, place of business, income and relationship status.
Infosecurity notes that, whilst Facebook no longer lists all information from users on its site, criminals can still look on various other sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and collate data on individuals.
And, say newswire reports, this appears to be what criminal gangs are doing, even going to the extent of setting up boiler rooms dedicated to calling users on the master list and selling them non-existent goods or services at heavily discounted prices.
The sole purpose of the calls appears to generate extra information, such as bank or credit payment card details, as well as confirming other data such as their home address. The criminals then sell the resulting data on to identity fraudsters.
Research published last week by CIFAS, the fraud prevention service, found that levels of identity theft rose by 32% during 2009, compared to figures published a year earlier.
Commenting on the surge in identity thefts, Peter Hurst, chief executive of CIFAS, said that anything that helps bring an understanding to all parties of the impact of fraud on our economy has to be beneficial.
"It also represents a first step. By attempting to quantify fraud losses, it provides a foundation for further work towards reducing them", he said.
The key to beating this kind of fraud – the kind that involves criminals sharing personal information amongst themselves – is to share fraud information between members of CIFAS.
Members of CIFAS report nearly £1bn in savings each year from sharing fraud information, he explained.
"Following the Serious Crime Act of 2007, there are no legal impediments preventing public sector organisations from participating in these data sharing arrangements and CIFAS would welcome them into membership", he said.
"Discussions are already taking place with a number of public sector organisations and, by next year, we are hopeful that they too will be able to prevent more fraud by taking advantage of the benefits that data sharing can offer", he added.