There has been a significant increase in the crime rate related to online surfing and online websites after the advent of social media.

A research was conducted last year into the crimes which are related to Facebook. According to the research, the frequency of the average crime which is occurring due to Facebook or any other social networking website is as low as 40 minutes. In the last year alone, there were 12,300 cases which involve social networking websites in some form or the other.

These offenses relate from kidnapping to assault to death threats to even child sex offenses. The most cases are however filed for harassment through the social networking websites as well as bullying through the social networking platform.

In some of the cases, however, the directions on the platform led to the real world violence as well. The latest example of a crime related to Facebook happened in Staffordshire, where a bus driver utilized Facebook in order to groom a young boy.

There are plenty of cases of revenge porn as well which have wrecked the lives of many people. While some of the activists call for the shutting down of Facebook but the truth is that Facebook is just a platform and it can be used in a positive way as well is a negative way. However, for the criminals, it has provided them with an easy platform in order to contact their victims.

As the usage of Facebook increases all over the world, such instances of crime would also increase. Facebook has Time and again stated that in the case of serious offenses, it often works with the law enforcement agencies in order to bring the perpetrators to book.

However what remains to be seen is whether any concrete steps are taken in order to prevent the utilization of Facebook for any kind of initiation of crimes.

Once Facebook is able to take certain concrete steps, you can be sure that the crime which is initiated with the help of social networking websites gets reduced significantly.

Till then, you just need to be careful whenever someone whom you do not know is contacting you on Facebook. If you’re able to restrict your online networking activities to choose the people you know, you can be sure that you would not fall into the trap of any of these criminals who might not have the best interests of you in mind.

Social networking websites are a double-edged sword and that is why we do need to be careful in order to avoid falling into these traps.