Facebook scam catches up to FCC chief

You can never be too high on the food chain in government to become a victim of scamming. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski just learned that lesson the hard way.

Last week, on New Year's eve, Genachowski sent his Facebook friends this puzzling message: "Adam got me started making money with this." It was followed by a link to a web page that is no longer active. The message blitz indicated that Genachowski's account had been taken over by a malicious program that was using it to send out spam.

Suddenly, it became apparent what was happening. And Genachowski's Facebook profile was no longer visible on the FCC site, as IT personnel moved to limit any damage. Facebook spokesman Larry Yu said the company learned of the problem and suspended the account, as it routinely does in such cases. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment.

That's not the end of it. Facebook issued a statement that if Mr. Genachowski wants to continue to use Facebook, he will have to get some education about the safe use of this particular form of communication.

Lecturing the FCC chairman? Really?

We're sure there will be much more on this subject as federal agencies and their leaders tap into Facebook as a great, new way to communicate with the public. This just shows that it's not without its perils.

For more on the FCC chairman and Facebook:
- see this New York Times article

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