Well, the time has come to wrap up my series on fake profiles. I could go on and on about the various ways shady individuals use fake profiles to exploit unsuspecting Web-goers, but I believe I’ve covered the big problem areas by tackling MySpace and other social networks, online dating websites, and Craigslist scams.

You may not think fake profiles on the Web are a big deal, but recent news shows otherwise with a Craiglist fake profiler being sued and the case where faking MySpace information may become a federal crime. As long as there’s money in creating fake profiles online, there will be seedy people there to do it.

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I’ve discussed fake profiles on social networking sites like MySpace and dating websites like Match.com - so it’s about time I take on Craigslist.

Like MySpace and Match.com, Craigslist is targeted for fake profiles because it’s a potential advertising resource. Many Craigslist users aren’t necessarily net savvy, which makes them perfect victims for fake profile scams. With Craigslist, a scammer can easily create a fake profile, post a fake ad, and make a decent amount of cash in a very short amount of time with very little risk.

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In part 1 of my Fake Profiles series, I talked about how people use fake profiles on social networking sites like MySpace to create large friends lists that are nothing more than lead lists to push various marketing efforts. In part 2 I will be focusing on how (and why) people use fake profiles for online dating websites like Match.com and Yahoo Personals.

Like social networking sites, dating websites have become big lead sources for internet marketers (aka, spammers and scammers) to attack. With online dating websites they are able to focus directly on a particularly lucrative niche - singles looking for dates. Having such a valuable and focused niche has drawn all sorts of seedy Web individuals to exploit these types of websites and users by creating fake profiles in an attempt to lure unsuspecting singles seeking net-goers.
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Okay, so it’s probably not a mystery that MySpace is filled with fake profiles, but do you know why those fake profiles exist? Why do people spend the time creating them? Well, with MySpace having such a huge pool of users, it’s the perfect place for some bulk marketing (aka, spamming).

You see, there are a whole lot of internet marketers out there - and I use the term loosely - who are looking for any way possible to spread their links to as many people as possible. These links are usually to affiliate products and websites where the “marketer” gets a cut (either per sale or sometimes per so many visitors). Since MySpace has such a huge userbase and has some marketing friendly features (nameley sending bulletins to friends) it makes for a great source of Web victims.

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