Social Media Helps Solve Cases

Do criminals want social media likes so badly that they will incriminate themselves? Apparently so.

Last week a cocaine dealer’s student girlfriend helped police bust a major drug ring by bragging about her luxury lifestyle on Instagram. Emily Lock, 22, of Llanbradach, Caerphilly, earned less than $10,000 as a checkout worker at Lidl, but openly flashed designer clothes, shoes and extravagant holidays. Along with her dealer boyfriend Mark Price, 27, they spent over $100,000 on foreign travel and high end goods. So that has authorities wondering where did they get that kind of cash? Drugs maybe?

Lock and Price, who claimed to be a struggling builder, repeatedly purchased Vivienne Westwood handbags, Gucci sunglasses, Christian Louboutin shoes and Christian Dior perfume. She ended up being jailed for 15 months and landed her boyfriend behind bars for seven years.

Check out these other not-so-bright crooks who incriminated themselves with their posts.

1) Conor Murphy, 19, posted a picture of himself on Facebook eating a ‘Cash Sandwich’. The pictures would eventually lead police to connect him to an eight-man gang who stole a fleet of expensive, high-performance cars from some of London’s wealthiest residents. They stole BMWs, Range Rovers, Porsches and a $100,000 Mercedes – as well as jewelry, phones and laptops in 15 separate burglaries. Detectives finally caught them after one of the gang members posted a picture of himself on Facebook sitting on the hood of a stolen black Range Rover.

2) Leon Roberts, 38, and Jade Muzoka, 27, claimed damages after their weeks’ vacation in Turkey. The couple alleged they both suffered from food poisoning and tried to collect around $3,000 compensation. But just days after returning home the bodybuilders uploaded 79 photos on social media bragging about their trip, including pictures of them guzzling drinks and dining on steak, lobster and sushi.

In a doctor’s note they claimed to have been bedridden with vomiting and diarrhea, but their pictures proved otherwise. Luckily, the images they posted saved the resort from having to pay over $2,500 in alleged damages. They were busted and given a 26-week jail sentence and ordered to serve 200 hours community service.

3) Drug dealer Junior Francis, 33, boasted about his extravagant lifestyle on social media before being caught with $7,000 cash and $75,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin during a home raid. Francis posted pictures online of him posing with wads of cash pressed like a telephone to the side of his face. In an Instagram post he quoted rapper Notorious BIG, writing ‘everything I got I work hard for it’ under a picture showing thousands of pounds in cash on a kitchen top. Smart, right?

He initially denied any involvement in drug dealing during an interview after the home raid but when police checked his mobile phone, they found evidence of transactions with street level dealers in south London. Francis was jailed for six years and eight months after admitting possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and money laundering.

4) The mysterious murder case of a Canadian girl was solved after police found clues in the Facebook selfie posted by her friend. Brittney Gargol, 18, was found dead near a landfill in March 2015 and an autopsy later revealed that she died of strangulation. Gargol’s friend Cheyenne Antoine, 21, plead guilty to manslaughter after they found a Facebook selfie showing her wearing the belt used to strangle her friend. The wide blue woven belt with a large buckle was found on a roadside next to Gargol’s body, and Antoine was seen wearing the same belt in a photo posted to her Facebook account just hours before the killing, according to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

Investigators got suspicious of Antoine when she initially told them about spending time with the victim the night she died, but left her friend to visit her uncle. That statement was later proven false. Antoine then told investigators that she and Gargol partied with two men, who allegedly strangled the victim and put a gun to her head to help them. The second statement was also proven false.

“It’s quite remarkable how the police developed this information,” prosecutor Robin Ritter said in court adding that Antoine poses a threat to public safety. She “has issues … and because of those issues, she is dangerous.” At her court appearance Monday, Antoine’s lawyer, Lisa Watson, said her client suffered through sexual, emotional and physical abuse as she grew up in foster care. “My client had some very deep-seeded personal issues that she was not dealing with and unfortunately, for whatever reason, we’ll never know, they turned into a very tragic situation for all involved,” Watson said.

Workplace Harassment and Social Media

For decades, instances of sexual harassment have been brushed under the rug and business have only reacted when it’s “really bad” or “high profile.” But a staggering 1 in 5 Americans reports being sexually harassed at work and 75% of those who report their abuser experienced retaliation for speaking up.

Thanks to social media and the #MeToo movement, as well as the general movement to become better human beings, sexual harassment is no longer being tolerated.

So what can business owners and human resources managers do to make work a better place?

The first step is for business owners to educate themselves about sexual harassment, including the basics of harassment, discrimination, retaliation and workplace bullying. All managers should know their responsibilities and liability, as well as their duty to prevent harassment and abuse. It’s up to owners to lead the way in the workplace’s professional and respectful behavior. You should know how to receive and respond to a complaint and be familiar with confidentiality guidelines and the rights of all people involved.
Business owners must implement workplace strategies to prevent occurrences of harassment. Establish boundaries and policies regarding harassment and make sure all new and existing employees are trained in those areas and are taught how to file a complaint.
Business owners must enforce the company’s policies and practices. Offenders must be disciplined according to the severity of their behavior. Penalties could include one-on-one sensitivity training, suspension with or without pay, or possible termination. When policies and procedures are enforced, it demonstrates a no tolerance stance to employees and will further discourage workplace harassment.

Don’t ignore your employees when they say they’re being harassed. It can be isolating, humiliating, and stressful for an employee to come forward about an abuser, particularly if that person has corporate power over them or is well-liked by peers.
Last, look for indicators of abusive behavior before hiring. You’re probably asking yourself how can you possibly spot a harasser before hiring them? Check social media! This is a far better method than standard or criminal background checks used widely in business today. Social media screening can identify potential harassers by flagging material that willingly and publicly disparages women or minorities online, or that blatantly promotes sex or violence.
Sexual harassment is a complex issue and as difficult as it may be, the effort to prevent workplace harassment matters. Aside from the distress caused by workplace harassment, discrimination and retaliation, the behavior is illegal. Anyone that commits these acts is a tremendous liability. Addressing harassment proactively instead of reactively avoids personal, business and legal problems.

It’s also important to provide resources for anyone experiencing abuse, and make sure your HR team knows what to do when harassment is reported. If an employee does not feel safe reporting the problem, they probably won’t, and this means the problem will only grow as an attacker feels trapped by silence. That spells disaster for employee morale as well as for your business’s reputation if you’re caught with a harassment scandal you did nothing to prevent.

Social Media’s Role in Finding the Missing

Every three minutes a child is reported missing in the UK; across the EU that number rises to one child every two minutes.
In the US, the FBI recorded almost 467,000 missing children in 2014, which is close to one reported every minute.

In the US, milk cartons, posters, flyers, and traditional news reports were the main missing child search channels until 1996, when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed up with local police to develop a warning system that interrupted regular programming on television, radio broadcasts and highway signs. That service, Amber Alert, is used only for the most serious of cases, sending out messages via email, text, traffic signs and digital billboards, as well as through Twitter and Facebook.

In 2015, Child Rescue Alert partnered with Facebook to harness the social network’s reach. Now, when a missing child case meets certain criteria of seriousness, law enforcement agencies can issue geo-targeted posts, containing a photo and description, to appear in the newsfeeds of Facebook users in the area where the child is believed to be.

Rachael Powers, a criminologist at the University of South Florida, says that social media has become “the new milk carton campaign” for police departments across the country, stressing the importance of publicity for missing persons cases. “It’s the difference between 40 eyes and 4,000 eyes,” she says.

“Time is often a crucial element when locating vulnerable missing people who are at risk to themselves or to the public,” says Metropolitan Police commander Alison Newcomb. “The use of social media supports our investigations and appeals and has achieved great results, some of which simply could not have happened through traditional communication channels.”

DC cops are also doing more to publicize the most critical cases. In December, the department began issuing press releases for every single “critical missing” person—defined as anyone under 15, over 65, or otherwise deemed to be vulnerable. Not every critical case had received a press release under the old system. This year, DC officials said at the press conference, 95% of the missing persons cases have been closed.

“If a person goes missing, commands make initial notifications on social media. Then posters are made,” said Zachary Tumin, deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives and leader of the NYPD’s social media efforts. “As that information gets retweeted by police and the public, word spreads very quickly to be on the lookout for that missing person.”

“First year results aren’t in yet, but I think we’ve been successful. We currently have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and we have to take advantage of that going forward,” he said. The NYPD’s Twitter campaign comes three years after the creation of its Facebook page, which currently has more than 380,000 likes. Tumin expects all police officers to be issued their own smartphones in the next year or two; that will help them push out information quickly.

Before social media, spreading the word about the missing was hampered by limited outreach to those in direct position to help. Amber Alerts were mainly broadcasted on television, radio and on highways. Distribution of missing posters was also limited, only displayed in communities in which the individual was last seen and or lived.
Now, organizations like National Center for Missing & Exploited Children can increase the likelihood missing children are found thanks to more immediate and full-range awareness raised on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These social media platforms have 1.2 billion, 288 million and 300 million monthly active users, respectively.

“Our social media properties allow us the ability to geo-target our missing children’s posters. In doing so, we are able to reach people who may be in a direct position to help,” said Ashley Iodice, spokesperson for the National Center. In March, the non-profit ramped up video production across all its social media platforms and launched videos that feature family members of lost children. “We have found that video elements in the digital media space garner more viewership, which we believe will help in finding more missing children,” said Iodice.

Gavin Portnoy, head of digital media at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which makes active use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, has proof of the power of sharing. In 2015 the charity created a video appeal featuring imagery of a missing girl and the person they suspected had kidnapped her. The video was shared widely and a woman spotted them. “People feel empowered to make a difference; it’s the opportunity to do something,” he says. Portnoy, however, says that while he recognizes that social media is by no means a perfect tool, its benefits should be acknowledged. “It is another really positive tool that’s in the arsenal of the public, of law enforcement, of non-profits like us that are trying to help.”

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Social Media Monitoring Now Being Used for Brand Threats and Loss Prevention

Now that 71% of online adults are using Facebook, it is more important now more than ever that businesses set up a social media monitoring strategy. Social media sites have the ability to boost exposure and profit for a company, but they can also cause major damage as well. This is where asset protection and risk management come in.

According to a 2009 Deloitte ethics and workplace survey, 74% of employed Americans surveyed believe it is easy to damage a brand’s reputation via sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Although that statistic may be frightening, it is possible for social media and areas like asset protection to have a beneficial relationship.

Consider the following tips for protecting your company and brand by using social media as a loss prevention tool.

Assemble a team to closely monitor consumer feedback 24/7. Social media interaction doesn’t end when business hours do, and quick responses can avert a potential disaster. This team should also be responsible for investigating suspicious activity, such as theft, counterfeiting, and other crimes..

Establish a response system when monitoring complaints online.The response system would provide specific protocols based on the nature of the complaint or issue, and from there, a response committee can address the issue. To be most effective, a response committee should consist of members from each department and a set process to follow on how to resolve and respond to a complaint or issue.
Use social media monitoringas an investigative loss prevention tool.In a recent survey of active federal, state and local law enforcement officials, 81% said they use social media for investigative purposes, 67% percent indicated that social media is a valuable tool in anticipating crime, and 73% believe using social media can help solve crimes faster.

For example, a local sheriff’s office shared some security video images from a clothing boutique store that showed a female shoplifter stealing several hundred dollars in clothing. The boutique had a very good camera system and shared those images from their Facebook page to the Sheriff’s Office page, who in turn shared it with their followers. Within 30 minutes, the comment section was full of tips, eventually leading to the shoplifter’s identity. Without this platform, this crime may have gone unsolved, and that business would have taken a hit out of their own pockets.

Stolen property turning up for sale on Facebook buy and sell pages is also becoming increasingly common, police say. One of the key giveaways is price. Alarm bells should start ringing if a product that normally costs $1,000 is being offered for $100, such as jewelry or tools. If it’s too good to be true, it usually is.

Report suspicious activity.Companies should establish an internal response system to report suspicious activity, such as retail crime, counterfeiting of goods, dissemination of proprietary information, and cyber-bullying of employees and/or supervisors on social media sites. The response system would consist of process on how to report suspicious activity via email and/or a phone line. You are responsible for finding the suspicious activity, so make sure your company knows how to use social media as a loss prevention tool and what to do with the information.
Guard your information.With email still the biggest threat to leaking proprietary information, other modes of online communication are quickly catching up. According to Proofpoint, Inc., 17% of companies in the U.S. had confidential information exposed on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn in 2009. That figure is up from 12% in 2008.

By following blogs and message boards, monitoring YouTube videos, and keeping an eye on social networks, retailers can be aware of issues that arise and respond quickly instead of simply hoping that nothing comes up. Being a part of these social online communities is a risk, but it’s becoming a necessity as more businesses realize their potential. Just make sure your company is not vulnerable to hackers and the employees know what they can and cannot share.

Manage feedback and build brand loyalty. Social media gives companies a chance to directly interact with their customers. Examining this feedback can assist you in looking at some of the ineffective operations of the business. When a company promptly responds to feedback, positive or negative, it builds brand loyalty. This also gives you the power to put out potential fires the minute they arise. As mentioned before, this is a 24/7 job for a 24/7 world.

Employees Are Also Using These Sites

It’s not just customers you should look out for: it’s employees, too. Many people think that when logging on to social media sites, they become anonymous. All too often, people lose their inhibitions when they realize they have the power to type anything they want without a face-to-face confrontation.

Employees need to realize they represent the company every time they contribute to social media sites. This is another reason corporate guidelines are useful for informing employees that, while they have a right to those sites, they also have a responsibility to uphold the image of the company. A disgruntled employee who logs on might do more damage than an angry customer.

In early March 2011, someone who had access to the official Chrysler Twitter account used vulgar language in a tweet. The tweet was deleted promptly, but Chrysler has over 7,000 followers, and it was re-tweeted immediately. The source of the tweet was Scott Bartosiewicz, an employee from the social media contractor for Chrysler. He was not a disgruntled employee, but he confused his personal account with the brand account—a mistake that cost him his job.

It took seconds for one tweet to tarnish this brand, but don’t let this prevent you from creating an account on Twitter. Chrysler had over 7,000 followers when this incident occurred. They now have over 188,000. Of course, it is unwise to pull an unprofessional stunt for the sake of attention, but it’s a reminder that it’s never the end of the world when it comes to social media. You can rebuild your brand by keeping a professional online reputation.

Check out what your fellow employees are saying on social media sites. Some might say this is an invasion of privacy for the employees. They do have a right, but by posting statuses and pictures about their company or brand, they open themselves up to the public. It’s important to check out what the employees are saying because they could be discrediting the brand. While they have a right to their own opinions, they should keep a level of professionalism even out of the office on these sites.

Also, social media monitoring of employees can reveal theft…whether it’s time, office supplies, or larger products. If they tweet 20 times between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. on a workday, it’s likely they are misusing company time. The reason many people share information online is because they think no one is watching. But if an employee is selling a printer on Facebook that looks like the one that just went missing around the office, it might be beneficial to start watching.

It may seem too “Big Brother” to keep such a close eye on employees’ social media behavior, but try to think of it as a better-safe-than-sorry technique.

How Can You Control Social Media Damage?

Manually scouring individual social media sites is a time-consuming process. Usually this is being done by individuals who are not formally trained in how to use social media data. One of the key advantages of using a purpose-built social media monitoring solution is that you not only get the tools, you get a dedicated team of people watching out for changes in the law and ensuring the system you’re using is in compliance.

A 2013 LexisNexis whitepaper entitled ‘How Social Media is Changing the Face of Investigations’ contains a passage which is true today as it was when it was initially authored:

“It is imperative that agencies are compliant with how they use information obtained via social media sites within their investigative process. Without clear guidelines, your agency is open to potential violations of 28 CFR Part 23. Tools like Social Media Monitor provide an archive function to preserve information gathered that is legally compliant and admissible in court. Social Media Monitor keeps an agency compliant with laws related to intelligence gathering and ensures that departments will be able to admit this evidence in court.”

Graham explained, “Well-trained personnel can play a huge part in crime prevention and discovering individuals who are planning to do wrong — both local gang members as well as domestic and international terrorists. Gathering a mountain of evidence from social media and being able to properly analyze it transforms raw information into ‘actionable intelligence’ and results in the effective deployment of valuable resources.”

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The Use of Social Media Background Checks Rises among Employers

If you think that your Facebook and Twitter profiles won’t be looked at when you’re applying for a job, think again. The vast majority of employers are now searching through candidates’ social media accounts as part of the hiring process, new research finds.

A study from CareerBuilder revealed that 70 percent of employers now use social media to screen job candidates before hiring them, up from 60 percent a year ago. This also includes searches on Google, Yahoo and Bing,

But don’t let that stop you from posting online…and don’t delete your accounts altogether. That strategy could backfire! One-quarter of hiring managers expect candidates to have some sort of online presence, and nearly 60 percent are less likely to call someone in for interview if they can’t find them online.

“This shows the importance of cultivating a positive online persona,” Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder, said in a statement. “Job seekers should make their professional profiles visible online and ensure any information that could negatively impact their job search is made private or removed.”

Despite what you might think, most employers aren’t scouring the internet looking for reasons to not hire candidates. Most employers are actually trying to find reasons to hire someone.

The study found that 61 percent of employers conduct social screenings to look for information that supports a candidate’s qualifications for the job, 50 percent want to make sure the candidate has a professional online persona, and 37 percent want to see what other people are posting about the candidate. Just 24 percent of those surveyed check social media to search for reasons not to hire someone.

So what raises a red flag for employers?

The leading types of posts and behavior that left employers with a bad impression include:

Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos or information.
Candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs.
Candidate had discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion.
Candidate bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employees.
Candidate lied about qualifications.
Candidate had poor communication skills.
Candidate was linked to criminal behavior.
Candidate shared confidential information from previous employers.
Candidate’s screen name was unprofessional.
Candidate lied about an absence.
Candidate posted too frequently.

Professionals shouldn’t ease up on ensuring their online presence is a positive once they land a job. The study found that 51 percent of employers use social networking sites to research current employees. Of those, 34 percent have found content that caused them to discipline, or even fire, an employee.

The need to hide or remove any inappropriate content should be obvious, but having a clean and private profile doesn’t demonstrate who you are, and may even suggest you have something to hide, said Laura Betourne, a social media specialist at Uproar PR.

“Employers with a strong company culture are looking at more than just your job experience,” Betourne told Business News Daily. “Use your personal accounts to convey your personality, and share your hobbies and favorite pastimes.”

Although this research has become a popular trend, social media vetting is a contentious issue in the HR community. Some argue that the practice is unethical and violates candidates’ right to privacy. HR execs who turn a blind eye to social media have argued that the views and opinions people express in their free time have no bearing on their ability to get the job done. Still, HR teams who turn to social media often feel the information and photos posted on these platforms is in the public domain, and it would be foolish not to use it.

Social Media Vetting: Pros and Cons

Pro: It can give greater insight into an applicant’s abilities
A resume is a very small window into a potential employee’s work experience and qualifications. Sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter allow candidates a dynamic platform for exhibiting their work. Many journalists, photographers, and graphic designers share links to their clips on Facebook and Twitter, or specific portfolio sites like Behance and Contently.

Con: It could reveal protected information
Why do 80 percent of those surveyed avoid using social media to vet employees? A majority cite legal risk and the possibility of stumbling upon information that is usually protected including age, race and gender. Even when this information is obtained accidentally, if it has an impact on the ultimate hiring decision a candidate could argue discrimination.

Pro: It can reveal ugly incidents
Despite social media’s vast reach and public nature, candidates remain much more likely to be forthright in a tweet than they are in a job application or in-person interview. Social media sites are a good place to scan for potentially inappropriate behavior, such as overt acts of racism, sexism or other discriminatory behaviors. Hate speech can be a red flag for the HR team that a candidate might not fit into the organizational culture.

Con: It isn’t always reliable
In a world where Twitter accounts for brands like Burger King, Jeep and Fox News can get hacked, HR professionals can never be 100 percent certain that comments and content posted to a candidate’s page or wall is authentic. There’s always a potential for an HR professional to find an impostor account and mistake it for a valid one and the possibility of misconstruing pictures, messages or other information posted when this content is posted by someone with a similar name.

So who conducts Social Media Background Checks?

Social media vetting is time-consuming for hiring managers to do themselves. The American Bar Association recommends hiring a third-party vendor to conduct the social media searches. An added bonus: “Most helpful, a third party’s web-crawler system can typically review more webpages than an individual hiring manager tapping away at individual websites like Facebook and Twitter,” the ABA states.

The Bottom Line

It’s important to note that social media background checks make it easy for employers to find out information that can be held against you when you’re applying for jobs. Be cautious of what you post on social media, blogs, and other internet sites. The chances of someone finding information that could be damaging to your career are high. Your best bet is to be careful about what you post and to presume that what you post is public, despite any privacy settings you may have.

About Us:

We have been mining social media since 2007 for our clients. By utilizing best in class software programs, we offer a service called eChatter.

We offer:

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