Minnesota, USA -June 30, 2011 - Although most would claim that they have common sense when it relates to everything with technology and communication, undoubtedly people are consistently making the same mistakes that they insisted they would never make. What is the biggest downfall for technology users It can be narrowed down to one word, 'trust.' Every one of us trusts too quickly without thinking and we are continuing to see the effects spread across the internet and throughout the mobile phone apps.

If this technological world was perfect, there would be nothing wrong with this; however, we are increasingly seeing the 'fake' of everything -from Facebook friends to automated text messages. Now it is up to us to spot these 'fakes' and get rid of them before they take over our lives in ways that we cannot even fathom. Our virtual world must not be transformed into a world entirely different from our own.

Take a Second Look at your Friends List

Perhaps the instance of 'fake' friends -not referring to friends who are not genuine but rather characters that are created with ill intentions to gather critical information - is an inevitable occurrence when social networking is at its peak. Due to Facebook's "People You May Know"/friend suggestion tool, people are more opt to adding people they have not met in person; it only takes one person to add an imposter for it to run rampant throughout that person's friends list and beyond.

If it was merely individuals creating personas to simply interact with others, it would not be as big of an issue. Yet, typically these characters are created for spear phishing or social engineering; some of these may be innocent but inevitably there will be some in the mix that have a sinister purpose.

Receive a Text Question the Authenticity

Recently a new iPhone app by Excelltech, Fake-A-Message 2.0, was released that lets its subscribed users send random 'fake' messages at any time -prescheduled if desired; there are many apps just like this but this is the first that can reply to texts and create a conversation in an accurate way, which entirely fools the 'victim'. Obviously this could be used for entertainment, but the possibilities do not end there.

As funny as it may sound, I received 'fake' messages in the past that I immediately detected; however, not everyone knows how to determine whether or not a friend/coworker/family member would word something in a particular way. For this reason, we must begin to be wary of the messages we receive even if they could just be a joke.

What to do Next

Hit your Facebook friends list and weed out the people who you do not personally know; this will prevent the likelihood that you could add anyone who has evil intentions.

Change your Facebook profile settings to hide your friends list from everyone or specific 'unknown' friends; this decreases the possibility that someone would add you for these reasons and continue to keep you on his or her list.

Do not add just anyone that requests to be added as a 'friend'. Remember that we do not need to add everyone we know either.

Second guess any messages you receive online or by text message. If there are any doubts, do not hesitate to pick up the phone and give that person a call!

Above all, be wary of anyone or anything when it comes to technological communication.