No longer recognizing all five hundred of your Facebook friends? Have certain acquaintances started to sound strangely similar to dirty old men during online chats? Do you find it unusual that increasing numbers of large-breasted, blonde women are desperate to get to know you better? It could be that you or someone you know are the victim of social networking identity theft. According to the LATimes it's the latest craze amongst scam artists.

As improved spam filters and skeptical consumers make bogus e-mail less successful, scam artists are taking advantage of the atmosphere of trust that exists within these online circles of friends.

While both Facebook and MySpace insist they are increasing security measures, experts warn that they expect "identity theft and other scams on social networking sites to escalate"

The solution: listen to your mother and don't talk to strangers even if they happen to look just exactly like your best friend from second grade.