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I lost 16 bucks on Facebook

Friday, June 20th, 2008

I’m so angry. I just lost $16 by accidentally clicking an ad in Facebook. How did this happen? . . .

The reason why I don’t have a mobile phone, home phone, email or address on this site is due to a recent spate of privacy and SMS theft. Recently, I clicked a widget in Facebook and was sent a slew of SMSs from a dating service. I didn’t think anything of this (just kept deleting them) until I got my phone bill. Each SMS had been charged at $2+.

I then had to find my deleted SMSs and figure out how disconnect from the service. A difficult tract of text at the bottom of one SMS explained how to disengage the service. To disengage (from “Australia Data” – don’t bother Googling they’re not on the web) I had to phone a 1300 number. I was told to wait (1300 numbers are charged by the second) – was disconnected a few times and (after half an hour) finally got through, whereupon I was prompted to enter a series of numbers followed by my mobile phone number.

The phone, literally, went blank after I’d put in my number. No “goodbye”, no “you have been disconnected from our service”. But . . . the SMSs stopped coming. As did the slew of fees charged to my phone account.

Lesson: Never give your mobile number to Facebook. They ask for this info when you sign up. What they don’t tell you is that it’s shared with all their “clients”, so if you click an ad – or join a fan group, that information is then passed to third parties and marketing firms. So be careful with your personal info. It’s (literally) worth money.

Now on Facebook, I’m a 43 year old woman who lives in Austria. Needless to say – this new “identity” has a different mobile phone number.

Hopefully . . . it’s not yours! ;)