

Undercover Feds on Social Networking Sites - helwr
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/undercover-feds-on-facebook

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lotharbot
_"In the offline world, agents involved in an investigation can’t impersonate
a suspect’s spouse, child, parent or best friend, the Associated Press notes.
But online they can."_

It's pretty hard to pull that off convincingly. I guess if the goal is just to
get on the friends list for long enough to see a person's pictures and recent
messages, sure -- provided you know the name of a close relative or friend who
doesn't already have an account. But trying to carry on a conversation under
someone else's identity is pretty difficult.

I would think it far easier to pose as a distant friend or acquaintance from
high school -- which could also be done offline.

