Social media is a gold mine for detectives busting scams

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/social-media-is-a-gold-mine-for-detectives-busting-scams/ar-AAjTuGh

Wouldn't the morg be using it to find lost sheep!??

As a tool for finding out about people, FB is wonderful. But as far as finding them, it's a mixed bag.

Say you're looking for a particular person for a particular reason, like determining what ward the person is in. If that person has a common name, you can pretty much forget it.

But let's say the person has an unusual name and you find a couple of possible hits on FB, but they have either not indicated where they are living, or put a large city, like LA, Boston, etc., then that's not much help. So you say to yourself, I'll send them a FB message! But if you're not a friend, they don't get your message in their inbox and you have to hope they check the back up inbox. Or you can pay FB $1 to have notice of your message pop up on their home page. What do you tell them in the message that will insure they respond?

The odds are you just transferred $1 to FB, with no results, because the person receiving your message, to please give out your home address, laughed and deleted your message, and then bragged about it on RfM.

I didn't read your article, but it is now one of the instructions you get from your personal injury plaintiff attorney after you sign up with him after being rear ended by a Coca Cola truck, "Do NOT post anything on FB about fun things you're doing until after we settle your case!!"

Seriously? The morg employs ex CIA & FBI agents to track down people. Through every avenue available. I'd bet the LDS church has a better intelligence agency than most countries.

They never found me decades after leaving.

Regarding FBI & CIA agents: I sincerely believe, having met some, (and played golf with one) that these agencies, and probably most government agencies, personify the concept of 'mediocre managers hire and promote mediocre people.'

Honestly, one barrier to learning to be a good investigator is 'the badge'; it becomes a crutch.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2016 04:30PM by elderolddog.

I know and have worked with a lot of CIA employees, mainly but not exclusively on the analytic side. They are generally intelligent, well-educated, committed people.

There are problems with the structure of the agency--its organization in geographical silos, though that's improved a bit, and the reporting lines. But the people themselves are solid. And some of them have made big sacrifices for their country.

I frankly don't know how many CIA people are in the employ of the LDS church. I've heard more of FBA agents. They could probably do significant work for the church but, as with the PR staff, the question is ultimately how much adverse information the Q15 is willing to hear. That happens with the US government all the time: the intelligence agencies see and report a major threat but the White House or cabinet does not want to hear about it and accordingly doesn't.