The burglar on Facebook

  Curtis is shopping with his wife at the mall when his cell phone rings. “This is Fire Captain Maddox, I’m at your house and smoke is pouring out from under the garage door,” says the caller.
  Startled, Curtis asks, “Who is this?”
  “This is the fire department—your house is on fire—give me the remote number for your garage door or we’ll have to chop it down!”
  Curtis answers, “The number is 8-3-2-5—how bad is the fire?” There’s no response. Curtis and his wife head for home, some 40 minutes away.
  When they arrive at their house everything appears to be intact. No fire trucks in sight. The garage door is open, although Curtis always closes the door when he leaves home.
  The kitchen door adjoining the garage is standing wide open. Inside, Curtis and his wife see their home has been ransacked. It’ll take days to take inventory of what’s missing.
  Curtis tells the cops about the phone call. Obviously there was no fire captain. His real name would be “burglar.” What about the sound of a fire truck in the background during the phone conversation?
  “A tape recording of a fire truck,” says the investigator.
  “How did he get my cell phone number?” asks Curtis.
  “Maybe it was someone you know,” says a cop, “are you on Facebook?”
  “Yes, but I only give my phone number to my friends,” answers Curtis.
  Curtis made several mistakes here. The kitchen door is always unlocked. A locked door won’t stop a thief, but it’ll slow him down or make him think.
  Also very important, Curtis listed his cell phone number with some friends on Facebook. It’s important to know that although Facebook is lots of fun, your Facebook page can be hacked into very easily.
  You should consider anything you write about yourself will be available to the public. There are few secrets on Facebook.