So you finally joined the 21st century and created a Facebook page. Now, proudly displayed on your profile for the whole world to see are your date of birth, dating status, hometown, college affiliation, and complete employment history.

Welcome to fraud risk in the age of online social networks. As employees, acquaintances and everyone else hangs out a personal online shingle for all the world to see, the scam artists are circling in ever-more sophisticated ways.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...