In Minnesota, authorities were able to levy back taxes on the wages of a long-sought tax evader after he announced on MySpace that he would be returning to his home town to work as a real-estate broker and gave his employer’s name. 

Nebraska collected $2,000 from a deejay after he advertised on his MySpace page that he would be working at a big public party.

California, which has recently been so strapped for revenue it has had to pay some bills with IOUs, agents are also using social Web sites. When one delinquent was identified as a rigger of sails, a curious collection agent searched his name and the term online and found a discussion board used by local riggers. In one thread someone asked where the rigger was because his store had closed, and a reply was posted, “Oh, he moved across the bay.” The agent found the man and collected a four-figure sum.

These examples from The Wall Street Journal show how savvy the Government is getting at attempting to collect what it deems it is owed.

As I mentioned in a previous post, you really need to watch what you put in your Facebook.  Now, I don’t believe that most people are avoiding taxes, but using these examples, do you really want everyone and their Grandmother to know you or your company’s financials.  Thieves sure would like to have that info.  Hey, I know – tell the world where you bank.  Better yet, let everyone know when you go to make your nightly deposits.

Sound silly?  You Bet.  But with all of the blogging, tweets, and random messaging,  people are putting out so much information something is bound to slip.  I saw a friend of mine last week.  I hadn’t seen him for about 2 weeks.  I asked him how he liked the French restaurant he dined at the Friday before.  He looked at me quizzically.  Then I asked if he had a great time at the baseball game on Saturday, and that his bright red shirt made his face look very pink.  He was getting agitated now.  He asked how I knew what he did, since he hadn’t seen me for the last two weeks. I told him about his girlfriend’s Facebook page, and he was – perturbed to say the least.  He doesn’t use his private Facebook, but his girlfriend tagged his pictures so I saw them.  Picture tags open a back door to private Facebook sites.

Just today, I was driving home from work and learned that the Republican party chief has called for the resignation of two Democrat incumbants  because they had posted on their Facebook Pages that the were going to run for different offices in 2010.  In Arizona, you must quit your current elected office to run for another office.  The Republicans are stating that an announcement on Facebook constitutes the beginning of the campaign and that they should resign.   It is going to the courts.

Be easy on yourself.  Watch what you post.  Keep personal items off your professional social network site.  It may save your job, or your client base.

www.timhawley.net

Contact me at tim@timhawley.net