From the Consuming Interests blog:

Be wary of those invitations to be your friend on Facebook or requests to follow your tweets.

They could be from debt collectors trying to gather personal information about you in their pursuit of payment, warns Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. The Florida-based credit counselor says it's hearing from clients all over the country that debt collectors are worming their way into consumers' lives using Twitter, Facebook Linkedin and Myspace.

Consolidated's founder, Howard Dvorkin, says debt collectors are spying on consumers and even using the information posted on these sites to contact the family of friends of those who owe money.

How to protect yourself? Consolidated recommends:

-- Debt collectors sometimes use fake names on social networking sites. Make sure you know the person you're friending or following.

-- Don't boast about your income, purchases, tax windfalls or anything else that reveals your financial situation. This could allow them to claim you are spending money that should be going to your creditors.

-- Be careful about what you post. Debt collectors will be looking at these sites to find clues about where you live and work.

eileen.ambrose@baltsun.com

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