Social Networking and Debt Collection

This Monday's edition of NPR's All Things Considered featured another interesting segment of 'All Tech Considered.' The focus of it was on how debt collection companies are using social networking Websites to find delinquent borrowers. Most of the segment consists of an interview with a man who for a decade successfully eluded government collection agents trying to track him down for not paying his student loans. The end came when the man, on the prompting of his employer, created a Facebook page and posted contact information on it. Only one day passed after this before he received a call at work. You can guess what it was about.

Is there a moral to this sad tale? Perhaps this is it: If you are trying to avoid debt collectors, do not give yourself away online. (They're coming to get you, Barbara.)

Here is URL to the story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128464415