If we’ve told you once, we’ve told you a thousand times: watch what you say on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Despite the happy terms of “friends” and “followers,” some of those reading your words might not be on your side. You can get in trouble with your family, employers, even the police. Our friends over at Mental Floss have collected a list of ten Facebook status updates that landed their creators in jail. A personal favorite:
Don’t tell the Internet you’ve kidnapped a woman… especially if you haven’t. Douglas Martin of Riverdale, IL, did, and the cops received a tip from a concerned acquaintance. No unwilling resident was found; the updates were apparently “part of a creative writing project,” but the heroin residue, bag of marijuana and bathroom “covered in white powder” were very real. Martin has been charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
All ten are worth reading, either as life lessons or as comedy, take your pick.
As a retired police officer, I was always amazed at the ways bad guys had of “telling” on themselves, but social media is a new treasure trove for cops….wish I still had some happy hunting to do!!! Thanks for the link, made for several good laughs! Here’s to the future of social media and the bad guys too dumb to realize how small this world is really getting…
sk –
Yeah, it’s amazing, isn’t it? Not the super-intelligent criminals we see in the movies…