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Are companies and not for profits harvesting your Facebook profile?
Beware that your personal data made available online is very lucrative from a marketing and financial perspective. Data reapers looking to profit from details of social media users usually disguise their “behind the scenes activities” by establishing a personal profile page.
Personal Profile Pages, which are more commonly known as “Timelines” are for individual, non commercial use. They are designed to represent individual people and in accordance with the Facebook terms of service must be held under an individual name.
Facebook pages look similar to personal timelines however they designed to provide a level of user protection. They offer unique tools for connecting people to a topic they care about, like a business, brand, organisation or celebrity.
Each person who signs up for Facebook should have only one account with login information. Each account can have a personal timeline and manage multiple pages.
To help minimise your risk of “profile harvesting”, make sure that you only accept friend requests from real people known to you. Report users who masquerade behind personal profile pages, these are often considered as “fake profiles” and are in breach of the Facebook terms of service.
Use the following link to learn how to report a fake Facebook account.
http://www.facebook.com/help/167722253287296