Facebook has become the most preferred way of keeping in touch with friends and establishing new friendships for many Ethiopians in the Diaspora. It is therefore necessary to learn more about this new means of communication, particularly the risks involved. The following are helpful tips by Newsweek and NBC:

Every day tens of millions of people log on to Facebook, the popular social-network site, and spend time playing goofy online games. But watch out. Some people playing these games are getting fleeced by scammers, tricked into signing up for products and services they didn’t want.

Worse yet, this isn’t happening by accident. The companies that develop games for Facebook make big money by selling ad space—some of it to scammers.

This week, Silicon Valley blogger Michael Arrington caused a ruckus by suggesting that Facebook itself has been turning a blind eye to the scams because it is sharing in the spoils. Arrington, who runs the influential TechCrunch blog, is on a crusade to pressure Facebook to clean up its act.

“Ultimately this is Facebook’s fault,” Arrington says. He says the social-networking site isn’t enforcing its own rules against scam ads. “It’s like with Major League Baseball and steroids. If the rules aren’t enforced, which is what’s happening on Facebook, then people are going to break the rules. Facebook needs to stop this.”

Here’s five tips to protect yourself from scams:

* If you don’t know the sender – don’t open it! Booby-trapped attachments are often disguised in clever thank you notes or e-greetings.

* Watch out for emails that request personal information. No legitimate organization will ask for your social security number.

* Be careful with e-mails that look like they are from PayPal, Facebook, or other popular sites. Often these emails are linked to a third-party site that make them look official, but are actually run by thieves or scammers. Instead, just type the Web site’s address directly into your browser.

* Watch for typos or spelling mistakes. Scam artists are street smart, but many have flunked basic grammar. If the email has multiple typos or grammatical errors, odds are it’s not real.

* Watch for red-flag phrases, like “You have won!” or “Verify your account.” Genuine firms never send e-mails like that.